The Opposition parties led by the Congress will march from Vijay Chowk to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) demanding a probe over the Adani issue.
The decision was taken after leaders met in the office of Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge in Parliament House complex to coordinate their joint strategy on the issue.
The protest march will begin at 12.30pm from Parliament House and MPs from several opposition parties will take part, party sources said.
The opposition has been demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the Adani-Hindenburg issue and has been stalling proceedings of Parliament over their demand.
In a complaint to the ED director, the opposition parties said, “Over the last three months, several crucial pieces of evidence have been made available against the Adani Group in the public domain. Yet, the Enforcement Directorate, which claims to pursue such cases with vigour and fairness has yet to launch even a preliminary enquiry into these very serious charges.”
The complaint also alleged that as a result, we are constrained to file this official complaint so that the ED is compelled to investigate a relationship that has serious implications not just for our economy but most importantly, our democracy.
“This case involves serious and far-reaching charges of corporate fraud, political corruption, stock-price manipulation through fraudulent means, and the misuse/monopolization of public resources to benefit a single corporate group,” it said.
It further said that the Adani Group of companies are accused of having established a network of offshore shell companies and offshore funds controlled by parties related to the Adani Group for the purposes of artificially inflating stock valuations and to give a distorted picture with regard to the group companies’ financial health.
“Data available in the public domain actively lists 38 Mauritius shell entities controlled by the Adani group through Vinod Adani or close associates; as well as other entities in Cyprus, the UAE, Singapore, and several Caribbean Islands. The purpose of these entities was to “round trip” money into the Adani companies for the aforementioned reasons,” it alleged.
The complaint further alleged that what makes matters worse and establishes a clear causal link between these off-shore entities and Adani’s Indian companies, is that Gautam Adani’s brother Vinod Adani, along with his associates, is alleged to be the person crucial to setting up these networks. In other words, the parent companies are not at “arms-length” from these transactions but have actively created them for the aforementioned purposes. The detailed nature of transactions which reveal such a link, are now available in the public domain. These actions are also patently illegal since they violate the basic rule that at least 25 percent of free float be held by non-promoter entities.
The Parliament has witnessed several adjournments over the opposition demand for JPC.