SC tags Cong leader's plea relating to Hindenburg report

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday tagged Congress leader Jaya Thakur's plea seeking an investigation against Adani Group and its associates in the light of disclosure made by Hindenburg Research report with two other petitions related to it and listed it for hearing on February 17.

A bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud agreed to hear on February 17 the petition filed by Congress leader Jaya Thakur.

Earlier two other petitions were filed related to the Hindenburg report. One of the petitions was filed by advocate Vishal Tiwari who sought to Constitute a Committee under the Monitoring of the retired Supreme Court Judge to inquire about and investigate the Hindenburg Research report.

Another petitioner, advocate ML Sharma, has sought a probe against the US-based firm, whose report has led to shares of Adani group plunging on the bourses.

Jaya Thakur has moved a petition in the Supreme Court seeking an investigation against Adani Group and its associates in the light of disclosure made by the Hindenburg Research report.

Madhya Pradesh Mahila Congress general secretary Jaya Thakur has moved her plea through advocate Varinder Kumar Sharma.

The petitioner has urged the Supreme Court to set up an investigation against Adani Group of Companies and its associates, which have allegedly swindled crores of money from the public and the government exchequer. It sought a probe by various investigating agencies, namely, CBI, ED, DRI, CBDT, EIB, NCB, SEBI, RBI, and SFIO, under the supervision and monitoring of the sitting judge of the top court.

The plea also sought to direct the investigating agencies to investigate the role of the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) and State Bank of India (SBI) in investing a huge amount of public money in the follow-on public offer (FPO) of the Adani Enterprises at Rs 3,200 per share whereas the prevailing market rate of shares of Adani Enterprises in the secondary market was about Rs 1,800 per share.

The petition said that the Hindenburg Research report has put a serious question mark upon the respondent company.

Its findings also indicate that the Adani Group has inflated the share price of their various companies and by using the inflated price they have obtained loans worth Rs 82,000 crore from various public sectors and private banks.

The plea alleged that the respondent company and their associates have set up various offshore shell companies at various tax havens such as Mauritius, Sypris, UAE, Singapore, and the Caribbean Islands, for the transfer of money through the hawala route and have thus indulged in money laundering as defined under Section 3 of the PMLA Act 2002.

The plea further alleged that even after the Hindenburg disclosure, LIC, SBI, and several other public sector companies, without due diligence, invested huge amounts in the FPO of the Adani Enterprises and hence put crores of public money at risk.

It is not understood what was their objective and to whom they were supporting and upon whom directions, the plea further claimed.

The petition also said that as per the Hindenburg report, the associate of the respondent company has been indulged in and is accused in various cases booked by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence.

On February 1, Adani Enterprises decided not to go ahead with its fully subscribed Follow-on Public Offer (FPO), with the Group chairman Gautam Adani stating on February 2 that it would not be "morally correct" to go ahead with the Rs 20,000-crore share in the current market condition.

A report by the New York-based short seller on January 24, accused Adani Group of brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud among others. The US-based firm, in its report, raised concerns about shares of Adani group companies having a possibility of declining from their current levels, owing to high valuations.

In response, Adani Group said Hindenburg's report was not an attack on any specific company but a "calculated attack" on India, its growth story, and ambitions. It added the report was "nothing but a lie" .