The Supreme Court has refused to form a special investigation team (SIT) or group of experts to conduct an investigation into the allegation of stock manipulation by the Adani Group. The charges of manipulation were levelled by reports by Hindenburg Research (an investment research firm) and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP- a global network of investigative journalists). A bench presided over by Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud held on January 3 that the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) should take its investigation to its logical conclusion in accordance with law and that there are no grounds to doubt SEBI’s ongoing investigation. The Court also asked SEBI to investigate if the Hindenburg report on short-selling amounted to any infraction or violation of law.
“The facts of this case do not warrant a transfer of investigation from SEBI,” the bench headed by CJI DY Chandrachud said. The SC was pronouncing its verdict on a batch of petitions, filed by lawyers Vishal Tiwari, M L Sharma, Anamika Jaiswal and Congress leaders Jaya Thakur.
The Court also asked SEBI to complete investigation into all the cases within a period of three months. SEBI said that it has completed its investigation in 22 out of 24 cases. The Court also said that the SEBI’s investigation cannot be doubted on the basis of reports by OCCRP and others. “The reliance on OCCPR report is rejected and reliance on a third party organisation report without any verification cannot be relied upon as a proof,” the court said.
Law student Anamika Jaiswal had filed a batch of petitions before the SC, seeking a CBI and SIT probe into transactions of the Adani Group. On March 2, 2023, the SC had ordered two probes into transactions of the Adani Group - one by an expert committee and another by SEBI. The petitioner had filed pleas questioning the credibility of SEBI and also pointing to conflict of interest of three of the six experts in the committee as well as the presence of Adani’s relative on the SEBI’s Corporate Governance committee.
The experts committee was headed by former SC judge AM Sapre along with retired Bombay High Court judge Justice JP Devadhar and Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani among others. The petition questioned the presence of former State Bank of India Chairman OP Bhatt and lawyer Somasekhar Sundaresan citing conflict of interest and founder and former Managing Director of ICICI Bank KV Kamath saying that his name figured in the CBI FIR in the ICICI Bank fraud case.
In its order on January 3, the SC also said that there were no irregularities detected in Foreign Portfolio Investments.
Gautam Adani reacted to the verdict and said, “The Hon'ble Supreme Court's judgement shows that truth has prevailed. Satyameva Jayate. I am grateful to those who stood by us. Our humble contribution to India's growth story will continue. Jai Hind.”
