- By Abhishek Sheoran
- Thu, 21 Nov 2024 01:13 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
A US court has indicted Indian businessman Gautam Adani and seven others, including his nephew Sagar and three executives, on charges of fraud and bribery. The case involves a deal between Adani Green Energy and a US firm to sell 12 gigawatts of solar power to various states. These charges were announced on the same day the company was set to launch a green bond in the US. However, the Adani subsidiary later cancelled the sale.
Charges against Adani have fuelled an ardent political debate in India, with Opposition parties attacking the government. Many leaders sought PM Modi’s intervention, asserting that the businessman’s act had brought ‘disrepute’ to the nation.
Accusing PM Modi of protecting Adani, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said with the US indictment, it was clear that the businessman had broken both American and Indian laws. He demanded Adani be arrested in the case.
"It is now pretty clear and established in America that Mr Adani has broken both Indian law and American laws. He has been indicted in the US. I am wondering why Mr Adani is running around a free man in this country. CMs have been arrested...Adani has done one Rs 2000 Crore scam and multiple others probably but he is running scot-free...We have been running this again and again...It is a vindication of what we have been saying, the PM is protecting Mr Adani and the PM is involved in corruption with Mr Adani," Rahul said.
The Congress also asked the government to constitute a Joint Parliament Committee (JPC) to probe the case.
AAP leader Sanjay Singh said Adani’s case has brought ‘disrepute’ to the nation and PM Modi should intervene in the case. “Adani Group has brought disrepute to India...This is a very serious matter. The PM of India should come forward and answer this...All the pending matters against Adani should be probed by an investigation agency under Supreme Court monitoring and all the corruption done by him, within and outside the country, should come out before the country and action should be taken against him," AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP said.
Shiv Sena UBT leader Priyanka Chaturvedi said Adani has been convicted in the US which was a serious matter. She also rebuked Indian agencies for not acting proactively against the businessman in his erstwhile ‘fraud cases,’ accusing them of defending him.
"The accusations have been proven and there has been a conviction. It would have been better that our investigative agencies would also have done a free and fair investigation when the reports came in earlier... They talk about corporate governance, responsibility and accountability. The industrialists should be asked to follow the rules and regulations but even the agencies were defending him. The SEBI has not yet been able to prove charges against him... It is being said that he (Adani) spent lakhs and crores of rupees on government officials to get the contracts... This raises a question on the credibility of our country... Losing our reputation due to an industrialist is unfortunate..." she said.
BJP, however, raised questions on the timing of the US action against Adani.
BJP leader Amit Malviya said that the timing of the report, just before the Parliament session and Donald Trump's "Impending" Presidency raises several questions. He came down hard on the Congress after Jairam Ramesh demanded a JPC investigation into the matter.
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"But be as it may, the essence of the charge is that US and Indian companies agreed to supply 12 GW of power to the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI). This was subject to SECI entering into PPA with State electricity distribution companies (SDCs). There was a collaboration between Adani Green Energy with a US renewable energy, Azure Power, under which Azure was allotted 4 GW and Adani Green Energy 8 MW," Malviya said on X.