Rahul Gandhi, Congress party leader and leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha, had demanded the immediate arrest of Gautam Adani after the billionaire industrialist was charged in the US for alleged bribery and fraud.
Mr Gandhi was speaking in a press conference hours after the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the attorney's office for the eastern district of New York filed civil and criminal charges against Gautam Adani, his nephew Sagar Adani and other executives of the Adani group. US prosecutors charged Mr Adani and his associates for allegedly paying a US$250mn (million) bribe to Indian officials.
Mr Gandhi says, "It is now pretty clear and established in America that Mr Adani has broken both American law and Indian law. He has been indicted in the US, and I am wondering why Mr Adani is still running around a free man in this country. Chief ministers (CMs) have been arrested. Jharkhand CM was arrested, many-many people have been arrested and Mr Adani has done apparently one Rs2,000 crore scam, multiple others probably, but he is scot-free. He is running around. There is no problem, there is no investigation and we have been raising this again-and-again-and-again, we have been raising it with the Madhabi Puri Buch issue. We have been raising it, and it is a vindication of what we have been saying. The prime minister (PM) is protecting Mr Adani, and the PM is involved in corruption with Mr Adani. This has been clearly indicated.”
Taking a jibe at prime minister (PM) Narendra Modi's 'Ek hain to safe hain' slogan, the Congress leader says as long as the PM and Mr Adani are together, 'they are safe' in India.
Demanding that Mr Adani should be arrested immediately and interrogated, Mr Gandhi says his (Mr Adani's) 'protector' Ms Buch, the chairperson of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), should be removed from her post and a probe should be initiated.
"We have also shown you how she (Ms Buch) is connected to Mr Adani and we are going to show you a vast number of other people who are involved in this. By the end of it, India will know who are the people, every single one of them, who have hijacked this country. So, we are working for the opposition. We are doing our job. Our job is to make the people of India aware of what is going on, right? That is what we are doing," the Congress leader says.
Mr Gandhi says he will raise the issue during the winter session of Parliament beginning on Monday, and the entire Opposition will be together on the matter and will jointly raise the issue.
The Adani group vehemently denied the allegations terming them 'baseless'. Adani group spokesperson emphasised the preliminary nature of the charges, highlighting the legal principle of presumption of innocence.
The spokesperson emphasised that the charges are mere 'allegations' and the defendants are 'presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty', as stated by the US department of justice itself. The Adani group has pledged to pursue all available legal avenues to address these accusations.
The initial SEC complaint accused the executives of offering to pay 'hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes' to Indian government officials to obtain energy purchase contracts at above-market rates.
The legal actions include a five-count criminal indictment unsealed in federal court in Brooklyn which alleges conspiracies to commit securities and wire fraud. The charges specifically target executives from Adani Green Energy Ltd and Azure Power Global Ltd, suggesting a broader investigation into the renewable energy sector's procurement practices. The US authorities claim the scheme involved falsifying statements to attract about US$750mn in investments, including around US$175mn from US investors, while simultaneously attempting to manipulate government contract negotiations through alleged corrupt practices.
