In the 28th instalment of the series, 'Hum Adani Ke Hai Kaun' (HAHK), the Congress party asked three questions to prime minister (PM) Narendra Modi about the role played by Vinod Adani in Adani group's global transactions.
In a release, Jairam Ramesh, member of Parliament (MP) and general secretary for communications of Congress, says, "It is also the fifth in a sub-series titled 'Dikh Raha Hai Vinod' that relates to the role that Gautam Adani's elder brother Vinod Adani plays in the Adani Group's global transactions despite frequent denials."
Here are the three questions asked by Congress to PM…
(1) In a 13 March 2023 Lok Sabha reply, the minister of state for finance stated that an investigation into alleged over-invoicing by the Adani group of imported Indonesian coal, being conducted by India's premier anti-smuggling agency, the directorate of revenue intelligence (DRI), had "not reached finality as information sought from exporting countries through execution of Letters Rogatory is under litigation." In 2016, DRI had alleged that 40 Indian companies including Adani Enterprises, Adani Power, Adani Wilmar, Adani Power Maharashtra and Adani Power Rajasthan were over-invoicing imported Indonesian coal with the goal of "siphoning-off money abroad" and "to avail higher power tariff compensation based on artificially inflated cost of the imported coal." This was done—in what is now a familiar story—through intermediaries in Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai and the British Virgin Islands.
Despite a favourable Supreme Court order on 8 January 2020 to proceed, DRI told the Bombay High Court on 13 June 2021 that Adani Enterprises is trying to 'impede' its probe by challenging the 'well settled procedure of issuance of Letter Rogatory' sent to courts in Singapore, Dubai, Hong Kong, Switzerland and Indonesia. Given the heavy burden on consumers and taxpayers of inflated electricity prices, do you plan at any point to act in the interests of India's citizens rather than your financiers? How long will your cronies be allowed to steal from the people of India to fill your party's coffers?
(2) In the same reply, the minister of state said that the DRI had concluded its investigation into imports of power equipment by the Adani Group and submitted a report "before the relevant judicial authorities." To remind you, DRI found as far back as 2014 that three Adani Group companies—Maharashtra Eastern Grid Power Transmission, Adani Power Maharashtra, and Adani Power Rajasthan—had paid the Dubai-based Electrogen Infra FZE Rs 9,048 crore for power equipment imported from China and South Korea actually worth Rs 3,580 crore, with the rest syphoned out of the country. Electrogen was controlled by Vinod Adani via the Mauritius-based Electrogen Infra Holding. Why has it taken more than eight years for this report to be finished and will you permit DRI to make its potentially damning contents public? Or is this another instance of you allowing your cronies to syphon Rs5,468 crore in inflated capital costs, to be ultimately borne by consumers and taxpayers?
(3) A third DRI investigation that has gone nowhere is the one into the 2004-06 Diamond Scam in which Gautam Adani's younger brother Rajesh Adani and his brother-in-law Samir Vora were accused of circular trading of diamonds and fraudulently claiming export subsidies. In 2013, the commissioner of customs fined Rajesh Adani, Samir Vora, Adani Enterprises and five diamond trading companies linked to the Adani group. However in 2015, after you became PM, the customs, excise and service tax appellate tribunal set aside the Commissioner's order and dismissed the findings of the years-long investigation. Why did DRI not appeal the tribunal's order? Did you compel the ministry of finance to go easy on the fraud allegations against your close friends?
Read about previous questions here…
