US charges Adani, Karti Chidambaram demands joint parliamentary probe into allegations

Labelling the allegations as "very serious," Karti Chidambaram said that the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) must come out clean about these investigations, accusing them of "stonewalling" the same.

The Congress leader further said that this cannot be hidden "under the carpet" while demanding a report by the joint parliamentary committee.

"First it was the Hindenburg report and the establishment here (dismissed it). Now, it is the United States (US) government's Justice Department and the ACC which has issued an indictment. This is very serious. We demand a joint parliamentary probe. The SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) must also come out clean about these investigations because they have been stonewalling it as well. This can't be stonewalled anymore. They can't hide this under the carpet anymore. Very serious allegations are being made. The corporate house as well as the Government of India must come out with a categorical statement. We demand a joint parliamentary committee report (on the issue)," Karti Chidambaram said.

The Congress MP said that the government agencies must investigate these allegations levelled by the US government's justice department since they were being made against government entities in India.

"The government agencies must probe these allegations because they are being made against government entities in India. They must immediately order a probe and the SEBI must also act because a listed entity is being accused of indulging in corrupt practices," Chidambaram added.

Earlier, a five-count criminal indictment was unsealed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, charging prominent Indian executives including the Chairman of the Adani Group Gautam Adani by linking them to an alleged bribery and fraud scheme, Reuters reported citing US prosecutors.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of New York, "A five-count criminal indictment was unsealed in federal court charging Gautam Adani, Sagar R. Adani, and Vneet S. Jaain, with conspiracies to commit securities and wire fraud and substantive securities fraud for their roles in a multi-billion-dollar scheme to obtain funds from U.S. investors and global financial institutions on the basis of false and misleading statements.

"The indictment also charges Ranjit Gupta and Rupesh Agarwal, former executives of a renewable-energy company with securities that had traded on the New York Stock Exchange (the U.S. Issuer), and Cyril Cabanes, Saurabh Agarwal and Deepak Malhotra, former employees of a Canadian institutional investor, with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in connection with the alleged bribery scheme. (ANI)