New Delhi: With Hindenburg Research set to disband, the Congress on Thursday said its closure does not mean a clean chit for “Modani” and asserted that without a JPC, the “already-compromised” institutions of the Indian state will continue to act only to protect the powerful.
The opposition party’s assertion came after Hindenburg Research founder Nate Anderson announced that the US short-seller would disband.
Hindenburg Research made international waves with allegations against billionaire Gautam Adani that wiped billions from the market value of his group companies.
The Adani group had earlier denied all allegations against it.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said, “The closure of Hindenburg Research does not, in any way, mean a clean chit for Modani.”
The Hindenburg report of January 2023 proved serious enough to compel the Supreme Court of India to set up an Expert Committee to probe the allegation made in it against the Adani Group “whose prime patron is none other than the present Prime Minister of India”, he said in a statement.
“However the Hindenburg Report covered only one part of securities laws violations – of the hydra-headed Modani MegaScam. Out of the 100 questions on the Adani Mega Scam that the Congress party had asked of the PM in the Hum Adani ke Hain Kaun (HAHK) series during January-March 2023, only 21 questions related to revelations made in the Hindenburg report,” Ramesh said.
“The matter goes far deeper. It involves the abuse of Indian foreign policy to enrich the PM’s close friends at the expense of the national interest. It involves the misuse of investigative agencies to force Indian businesspersons to divest critical infrastructure assets and help Adani build monopolies in airports, ports, defence and cement,” Ramesh alleged.
He further said it involves the capture of once-respected institutions such as SEBI whose “discredited” chairperson continues in her position despite “clear evidence” of conflicts of interest and financial links to Adani.
It is worth noting that a SEBI investigation that the Supreme Court gave two months to present its report has conveniently dragged on for almost two years with no end in sight, Ramesh said.
“Modani may have — and it has — captured India’s institutions, but criminality exposed outside the country cannot be covered up in this way. The US Department of Justice has accused Adani of bribing Indian officials to secure lucrative solar power contracts,” he said.
The Swiss Public Prosecutors Office has frozen several Adani-linked bank accounts operated by Chang Chung-Ling and Nasser Ali Shaban Ahli that are “suspected of engaging in illicit activities, including money laundering and embezzlement”, Ramesh claimed, citing a Swiss Federal Criminal Court order.
As evidence of criminality has emerged, many countries have cancelled their Adani projects, Ramesh said.
“These are all serious acts of blatant favouritism and brazen criminality that can only be fully investigated by the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC). Without a JPC, the already-compromised institutions of the Indian state will continue to act only to protect the powerful and the PM’s friends, while India’s poor and middle classes are left to fend for themselves in a deteriorating economic environment,” Ramesh said.
Announcement of the closure by Anderson, 40, who started Hindenburg in 2017, came just days before Donald Trump’s inauguration as the new President of the United States.
While he cited the toll of the “rather intense, and at times, all-encompassing” nature of the work as the reason for his decision”, critics were quick to link the shutting down Hindenburg’s alleged ties with George Soros and the so-called deep state being under significant pressure from the incoming Trump administration.
Adani Group CFO Jugeshinder Robbie Singh in a cryptic post on X said: “Kitne Ghazi Aaye, Kitne Ghazi Gaye”.
Hindenburg, in January 2023, published a report accusing the Adani group of “pulling the largest con in the corporate history”, wiping out more than USD 150 billion in value of the group’s shares at their lowest point.
The Adani group vehemently denied all the allegations including that being “engaged in a brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme over the course of decades” and improper use of offshore tax havens to shore up group share prices.
Business tycoon Adani was ranked the world’s fourth-richest and Asia’s wealthiest person a day before the report was published. He slipped following the heavy selling witnessed in the group stocks.
On Thursday, with a net worth of USD 75 billion, he was ranked at No.20, behind Mukesh Ambani (ranked 17th with USD 91.5 billion net worth).
The Hindenburg report against Adani led to a political storm in India. But as months passed, the Supreme Court dismissed a petition from litigators based on it while the Adani Group recovered lost ground with strong operating performance and stock recovering most of the losses.
