Mention word Adani, Parliament gets adjourned: Shrinate

New Delhi: Congress today demanded Gautam Adani's immediate arrest for defaming India worldwide and eroding the credibility of governance.

It also asked the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, its leaders, ministers, and MPs to stop defending the man because of whom, the credibility of India’s corporate governance had come under questioning.

Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters here today, the Chairperson of the Social Media and Digital Platforms, Supriya Shrinate, pointed out that after the US Department of Justice brought charges against Adani, his projects are being canceled, halted, or reviewed in almost all the countries where they are in operation.

She wondered why investigating agencies like the ED, the CBI, the SEBI, and Income Tax and Revenue Intelligence had turned their backs on the issue. She said that, in fact, the SEBI was duty-bound to probe the charges against Adani since it has a mutual bilateral agreement with the US Securities Exchange Commission about such matters.

Shrinate pointed out, that ever since warrants have been issued by the United States, ‘Total Energies’ of France has decided that it will not make any fresh investments in the Adani group. Total Energies, one of the top seven energy companies in the world, has a 20% stake in Adani Green.

She said US agencies are also reviewing whether the funding should be allowed or should not be allowed for the Sri Lankan port that has been allotted to Adani. She said Sri Lanka itself is reviewing the Adani power deal, one that was facilitated by Prime Minister Modi.

Similarly, she added, the Kenya government has already canceled an airport, and a power deal. Bangladesh court has ordered a probe into the Adani power deal. Australia has seen rampant charges of corruption and rampant protests all across the country against Adani. Switzerland has frozen about 2,617 crore rupees connected to Adani on charges of misdeeds.

The Congress spokesperson pointed out that rating agencies like Moody's, and Fitch have downgraded Adani stocks and have kept the outlook as negative. The rating agencies have also said it is unlikely that the outlook will be revised to positive; it will likely be downgraded further.

Shrinate took a dig at the senior lawyer who sought to defend Adani suggesting that the Department of Justice order does not name Adani.

She pointed out, that the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) under which Adani has been charged can only be applied to American citizens and because Gautam Adani is not an American citizen, his name doesn’t feature there.

But, she added, the reality is that there is incriminating evidence and various mentions of Adani all through the order of the DOJ. She said Azure Power, Adani’s partner in America has been named in count 1 and count 5.

She said the reality that the documents of the Grand Jury of the Department of Justice very categorically state: “Gautam S Adani, Sagar R Adani, and others ‘devised a scheme to offer, authorize, make and promise to make bribe payments to Indian government officials in exchange for causing state electricity distribution companies to enter into PSAs with the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI).”

She said the SECI which comes under the aegis of the New and Renewable Energy Ministry, was influenced to change its process of allocating 2.3 GW of PPAs to India’s energy companies. She pointed out that neither Piyush Goyal, nor R. K. Singh, nor Pralhad Joshi has come to the fore to explain their position.

Questioning the BJP's arguments that charges are being made in the US, why does India need to investigate, she pointed out, that the BJP government headed by Narendra Modi got the CBI to investigate Embraer, which was facing similar charges in the United States. Similarly, the Louis Berger bribery scandal, which again was being probed in the United States, was probed by the CBI here. “Why does one turn a blind eye to Mr. Adani, but not to Embraer and Louise Beger”, she remarked, while asking, “Who is protecting Adani and why is he being protected?”

Besides demanding Adani’s arrest and an impartial investigation into the charges, Ms Shrinate said, the issue also needs to be discussed in detail in the parliament.

Remarking that the mere mention of the word Adani got both Houses of Parliament adjourned, the Congress spokesperson asked the BJP and its eco-system of government officials, Ministers, and MPs, to “stop defending a man who is tainted and who is only bringing disrepute to India, has caused loss and erosion of credibility as far as our stock market and rule of law are concerned”.