Arrest Gautam Adani, demands Rahul Gandhi after US court charges in solar energy bribery scandal

Lok Sabha Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said the Congress has been forced to do the job of the media, investigative agencies and partly the judiciary, as he demanded the arrest of billionaire Gautam Adani who is facing charges from an American court in the United States. a bribery scandal for solar energy.

Taking a jab at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for allegedly protecting the Adani group, he said agencies like CBI and Sebi should show similar vigilance in taking action against Gautam Adani as they did to arrest Chief Ministers of Delhi, Jharkhand and others.

Speaking at a news conference hours after US prosecutors accused Adani and associates of paying $250 million in bribes to Indian officials to get the Andhra Pradesh solar power contract, Rahul Gandhi said it was now fairly clear and established in the US that the businessman had violated Indian as well as US laws.

“He has been charged in US. I wonder why Adani is running around a free man in this country. CMs have been arrested. Adani has done apparently 2,000 crore fraud and probably several others but he is running free…” said Rahul Gandhi to reporters.

Read also: Who are the 7 people named in the Adani bribery case

An Adani Group spokesman stated that the allegations by the US Department of Justice and the US Securities and Exchange Commission against directors of Adani Green are “baseless and denied”.

“As stated by the US Department of Justice itself, ‘the allegations in the indictment are allegations and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.’ All possible legal action will be sought,” the spokesperson insisted.

US prosecutors accused Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani, Vineet Jaain and others of offering and promising Indian government officials approx. 2029 crore (about 265 million) in bribes between 2020 and 2024 to win solar power contracts in Andhra Pradesh.

Meanwhile, Gandhi also stated that the Congress has raised Adani scams repeatedly but nothing has happened since the instruments of action are with the government, citing agencies.

“.. We have raised this again and again… It is a confirmation of what we have been saying, the Prime Minister is protecting Mr. Adani and the Prime Minister is involved in corruption with Mr. Adani…,” Gandhi charged.

Drawing on Narendra Modi’s slogan ‘Ek hain to safe hain’, Gandhi said that as long as the Prime Minister and Adani are together, they are safe in India.

“I can guarantee that Adani will not be arrested or investigated in India because the Modi government is protecting him,” Gandhi claimed.

He reiterated the Congress demand for a joint parliamentary committee probe into various irregularities committed by the Adani group.

The former Congress president also said that he has no problem if Adani and Ambani are doing their business legally, but if there is criminality, monopolization, the group should face investigation be it even in states ruled by Congress and other opposition parties or outside Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Kenya and the United States.

He said the country’s future will be damaged because of Adani nexus between political finance and stock market. It is also harmful to private investors and is against the security and development of the nation, which would eventually lead to social problems.

Gandhi also renewed the call for “a new and credible” SEBI chairman to replace incumbent Madhai Puri Buch, who is already under fire for his closeness to the top industrialist, to complete the securities law investigations into the “Adani Mega Scam”.

Earlier, Congress general secretary for communications Jairam Ramesh said the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s actions have also put a question mark on how its Indian counterpart, SEBI, went about investigating violations of securities and other laws by the Adani Group and its gross failure to comply the group accountable for the source of its investments, shell companies, etc.

“The charge against Gautam Adani and others by the Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) of the United States confirms the demand that the Indian National Congress has been making since January 2023 for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) inquiry into the various Modani scams,” Ramesh said in a post on X.