Indian Supreme Court wants ‘transparency’ in Adani case
New Delhi, Feb 17 (EFE).- India’s Supreme Court said Friday it wanted to maintain “full transparency” while it examines several petitions to investigate fraud allegations against billionaire Gautam Adani’s group, which has plunged 50% on the stock market in less than a month, rejecting a sealed government proposal to form a panel to look into the matter.
“We will not accept the sealed cover suggestion by you because we want to maintain full transparency,” Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said in remarks carried by the Indian Express newspaper, otherwise, to dispel the impression that “is a government appointed committee.”
Since the billionaire’s largest companies collapsed on the stock market in January following allegations of stock manipulation and fraud, resulting in losses of more than 60 billion for Adani, India’s top judicial body has registered four petitions on the matter.
One of the petitioners, opposition Congress Party member Jaya Thakur, called for Adani to be prosecuted and for investigations into his companies, as well as the investments of state-owned Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) and State Bank of India (SBI) in a massive stock exchange operation launched a few days later by Adani Enterprises.
Lawyer Manohar Lal Sharma requested that the Indian stock exchange regulatory authority (SEBI) and the Ministry of Home Affairs investigate the founder of Hindenburg Research, the firm that accused the Indian conglomerate of stock manipulation and stock fraud in a report published in January.
SEBI, meanwhile, told the Supreme Court this week that it is investigating the allegations against the Indian billionaire’s group.
The document triggered a stock market plunge for Adani Enterprises, which has depreciated 50% since the report’s appearance to 1,721.75 rupees ($20.78) at today’s close, according to data from the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
The controversy reached a political tinge on Friday, after billionaire George Soros said yesterday in Germany that the allegations against Adani “significantly weaken Modi’s stranglehold on India’s federal government and open the door to push for much-needed institutional reforms.”
Indian Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani on Friday accused Soros of having “announced his ill intention to intervene in the democratic process of India.” EFE
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