Congress wonders if SEBI request for extension in Adani case an attempt to bury the ‘scam’

PTI

New Delhi, April 29

The Congress on Saturday expressed apprehension over the SEBI's six-month extension request to probe the alleged stock market manipulation of Adani group shares, saying it hopes it was not an effort to bury the “scam”.

AICC general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the Securities and Exchange Board of India has asked for a six-month extension after the Supreme Court Committee ordered it to examine the stock market transactions of the Adani Group.

“Hope this request by SEBI is not an effort to bury the scam or drag it out in the hope that the furore will die down,” Ramesh said on Twitter.

“The Committee — as it needs to be recalled—has limited terms of reference to begin with. It cannot (and will not want to) investigate the entire political science and business practices of the Group. That only a JPC can do,” he said.

Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra in her turn termed the move a joke.

“This is a joke. SEBI has been investigating since October 2021 when they replied to my letter of July. While they prima facie see violations (no surprise)- they want 6 months to protect their favourite businessman so that he can get maximum time to cover up.

“The SEBI Chairperson told the Committee that the Adani matter is the elephant in the room. Surely then it deserves to be treated with greater urgency given the free run this particular ‘haathi mere saathi’ has had in all these years of Mitr Kaal,” she said on Twitter.

Market Regulator SEBI has moved the Supreme Court seeking a six-month extension to complete its probe into the allegations of stock price manipulation by the Adani group and any lapses in regulatory disclosures.

The top court had on March 2 asked SEBI to probe the matter within two months and also set up a panel to look into the protection of Indian investors after a damning report by a US short seller wiped out more than USD 140 billion of the conglomerate’s market value.

In an application moved before the court, SEBI submitted that to ascertain possible violations related to misrepresentation of financials, circumvention of regulations and/or fraudulent nature of transactions, it would take six more months to complete the exercise.