PROBING DEEPER INTO THE ADANI ALLEGATIONS

Last week, leader of the Indian National Congress and member of the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi launched a series of scathing attacks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi accusing him of closely associating and endorsing Gautam Adani who has recently become a subject of global scrutiny. Last month, the New York based research group Hindenburg Research, accused the Adani group of fraud; stock manipulation and illegal use of offshore accounts. Now with the Adani group declining in value and their integrity called into question, Indian politicians are revisiting the depth of the alliance between Gautam Adani and Prime Minister Modi.

On behalf of the Indian National Congress, Gandhi led the charge against Modi by alleging that he was responsible for fuelling the rise of the Indian businessman. The charge held that since 2014 the government had been closely linked with the Adani group propelling Adani to the second spot on the global rich list; between 2014 and 2022, Adani's net worth increased from $8 billion to $140 billion. Rahul went further to support his claim that Modi was heavily involved in supporting Adani's airport and seaport deals both in India and abroad. The charge included that 6 airports including India's most profitable Mumbai airport came under the control of the Adani group. Rahul also posed an extremely politically sensitive question to the Prime Minister asking him how much Adani had donated to the BJP (the Baratiya Janata Party) in electoral bonds. Gandhi claimed that the Adani group had 30% stake in Indian airports and 90% stake in the India-Israel defence cooperation. The Congress took the stance of accusing the State Bank of India (SBI) and the Life Insurance Corperation (LIC) of risking public funds by investing in the Adani Group.

In Sri Lanka, the Adani Group holds 51% stake in the largest port terminal in the country, the West Container terminal in the port (Sri Lankan congomerate John Keells Holdings has 34% stake and the rest is held by the Sri Lanka Ports Authority). Such projects and government contracts act as evidence for the allegations made by Rahul Gandhi as he berated Prime Minister Modi last week.

As of now, the securities and exchange board of India is probing into the allegations made by Hindenburg research especially the more serious allegation that Adani used shell companies to manipulate the price of the listed ones. In order to placate his investors Adani has commissioned the accountancy group Grant Thornton to audit some of the Adani Group's listed companies.