The logo of Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
| Photo Credit: Reuters
Two Mauritius-based foreign portfolio investors (FPIs), who were mentioned in the 2023 report on the Adani Group by short-seller Hindenburg Researchhave petitioned the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT), seeking urgent relief from complying with SEBI’s new foreign investor norms before the upcoming September 9 deadline.
The Congress on Sunday (September 8, 2024) said the SEBI investigation into “the Adani Group’s brazen attempt” to bypass regulations is still languishing and the capital markets regulator has a lot to explain.
Also read | Hindenburg 2.0: OCCRP alleges Mauritius-based opaque funds invested millions of dollars in Adani stock
Congress general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh on Sunday flagged that both the FPIs are alleged to be violating rules that require investors to not be over-invested in a single stock. “These rules are meant to ensure that black money routed through tax havens do not flood back into Indian capital markets. They must be upheld at all costs,” said Mr. Ramesh on X.
“These are the very same FPIs who stand accused of participating in the Adani Group’s brazen attempt to bypass SEBI’s regulations and amass benami stakes in its own companies,” he added.
“These are the very firms that benefitted from SEBI’s removal of the requirement to identify the ‘ultimate beneficial owner’ of offshore funds, a decision that it was forced under public pressure to reverse in June 2023 in a tacit admission of its guilt,” the senior Congress leader further said.
Also read | SEBI cautions investors against fraudulent trading platforms offering stock market access via FPI route
He reiterated the need for a SEBI investigation into these violations that was supposed to be completed in two months but is still languishing 18 months later.
SEBI has lot to explain: Jairam Ramesh
“SEBI has a lot to explain, quite apart from the multiple conflicts of interest of its Chairperson that are now unravelling,” he noted.
Mr. Ramesh’s remarks come weeks after Hindenburg Research launched a fresh broadside against market regulator SEBI chairperson Madhabi Buchalleging that she and her husband had stakes in obscure offshore funds used in the Adani money siphoning scandal.
SEBI Chairman Buch and her husband have denied the allegations levelled against them as baseless and asserted that their finances are an open book.
The Congress has been alleging financial regularities against the Adani Group and favours being given by the government to the conglomerate to augment its profits.
The Opposition party has been persistent on its attack on the government, since Adani Group stocks took a beating on the bourses in the wake of the Hindenburg Research making a litany of allegations, including fraudulent transactions and share-price manipulation on the conglomerate headed by industrialist Gautam Adani.
The Adani Group had dismissed the charges as lies, saying it complies with all laws and disclosure requirements
.Previously in August 2024, Financial Services Commission (FSC) of Mauritius had said the offshore fund at the heart of the conflict of interest allegation Hindenburg Research levelled against SEBI chief Madhabi Puri Buch is not domiciled in the island nation, and that it does not permit creation of shell companies.
In a statement, the FSC had said it had taken cognisance of the contents of the report published by Hindenburg Research on August 10, 2024 wherein mention has been made of ‘Mauritius-based shell entities’ and Mauritius as a ‘tax haven’.
“The report of Hindenburg has further cited ‘IPE Plus Fund’ is a small offshore Mauritius Fund and ‘IPE Plus Fund 1, a fund registered in Mauritius’. We wish to clarify that IPE Plus Fund and IPE Plus Fund 1 are not licensees of the FSC and are not domiciled in Mauritius,” it had said.
(With inputs from PTI)
Published – September 08, 2024 12:12 pm IST
