New Deldi: On Wednesday, the heads of various opposition parties demanded that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) look into charges of corruption and money laundering by the Adani Group using shell companies.
The parties informed the investigation agency that "it cannot turn around and abandon its authority" in an email sent to ED Director S K Mishra.
In addition to the Congress and CPI, the letter was signed by leaders from the JDU, SS (UBT), RJD, DMK, JMM, AAP, IUML, VCK, and the Kerala Congress.
Many opposition party leaders were prevented from delivering a complaint to the Enforcement Directorate on the Adani problem by police as they marched from Parliament House to Vijay Chowk.
We are acutely aware of how in the recent past, the ED has also actively pursued matters of suspected political favouritism, including sharing concurrent jurisdiction with SEBI and CBI," the opposition leaders wrote to the ED. We're also cognizant of the Supreme Court Commission's limited authority in this matter. We emphasise this to remind the ED that it cannot renounce its authority on this or any other basis.
"In light of the aforementioned, we, the members of the Opposition, ask that you take prompt action on the above listed charges," they said to the ED director.
In addition, the letter asserted that, within the previous three months, a number of significant pieces of information had been made public that incriminate the Adani Group.
Even though the Enforcement Directorate professes to aggressively and fairly investigate situations like this, they have not done so in this case.
"As a result, we are constrained to register this official complaint so that the ED is obligated to examine a relationship that has major repercussions not just for our economy but most crucially, our democracy," they stated.
I quote: "Leaders and MPs of 16 opposition parties, who were about to hand over a complaint letter requesting probe into the Adani scam to the ED this afternoon, were blocked from accessing the ED office," this was tweeted by Congress leader Jairam Ramesh.
It has been claimed by the opposition that this case involves severe and far-reaching allegations of corporate fraud, political corruption, stock-price manipulation using fraudulent techniques, and the misuse/monopolization of public resources for the benefit of a single business group.
The letter's authors claimed that the Adani Group companies "artificially inflated stock prices and to portray a false picture with regard to the group companies' financial health" by creating a web of offshore shell companies and offshore funds managed by people affiliated to the Adani Group.
All of the "wrongdoing" allegations presented by the US-based Hindenburg study have been flatly refuted by the Adani Group.
The opposition also referenced the September 2021 drug recovery at Mundra port in their letter, claiming that the business in charge of the port, under whose watch this terrible crime occurred, has been subject to zero serious investigation.
They claimed that the ED's jurisdiction should have been invoked because of the investigation's potential international repercussions.
The opposition leaders have claimed that there is a "clear pattern of corruption, cronyism, and persistent law-breaking" in the debt that the Adani Group has borrowed from various public sector banks.
"It is astonishing that despite all of the above, the ED has showed little to no interest in pursuing a basic examination into the entities' affairs," they added.—Inputs from Agencies