 "Hindenburg saga: Markets defeated Cong's toolkit design, says BJP")
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday accused the Congress leadership of being part of a wider conspiracy that sought to use Hindenburg Research’s allegations against the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) chairperson to “crash” the Indian stock market and hurt small investors.
The Congress, on the other hand, kept up the pressure on the government and the Sebi chief, threatening countrywide protests on the issue.
Addressing a press conference, BJP leader and former Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the stock market showed resilience on Monday and frustrated the designs of the “toolkit gang,” involving the Congress, Hindenburg Research, and billionaire investor George Soros.
Prasad said Soros “is an investor in Hindenburg” and “is known for running propaganda against the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.”
“In its pathological hatred for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Congress, led by Rahul Gandhi and his toolkit friends, has developed hatred for India,” he said.
Prasad said Sebi had sent a notice to Hindenburg Research as part of its probe on the Supreme Court’s order following the firm’s allegations of stock market manipulation against the Adani group. Hindenburg never replied but has instead launched an attack on Sebi Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch, he said.
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Prasad termed the Opposition’s demand for a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe into the allegations a “sham,” which, he said, had been made with the intent to destabilise India’s economy.
Congress General Secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh said the Supreme Court must transfer its ongoing investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or a special investigation team “given the likelihood of Sebi’s compromise”.
Ramesh said Sebi, in its August 11 statement, mentioned that it has issued 100 summons, 1,100 letters and emails, and examined 300 documents containing 12,000 pages in the ongoing investigations into certain financial transactions of the Adani group. Sebi has sought to project an image of hyperactivity, but it diverts attention from the core issues involved, Ramesh said. “Actions matter, not activities,” he said.
Ramesh said the Supreme Court on March 3, 2023, directed Sebi to “expeditiously conclude the investigation” into allegations of stock manipulation and accounting fraud against the Adani group within two months.
“Now, eighteen months later, Sebi has revealed that a critical investigation, likely regarding whether Adani violated Rule 19A relating to minimum public shareholding, remains incomplete. The fact is that Sebi’s seeming inability to close two of its 24 investigations delayed the publication of its findings for over a year,” Ramesh said. Despite the Adani group’s claims of receiving a “clean chit,” Sebi has reportedly issued show-cause notices to several Adani companies concerning these allegations, the Congress leader said.
As for the recent revelations, Ramesh said: “The illusion that the Sebi chairperson and her husband had separated their finances has been shattered by the revelation that after joining Sebi, she transacted in the fund from her personal email account on February 25, 2018.” He asked whether the “conflicts of interest explain the prolonged investigation.”
All India Professionals’ Congress chairman Praveen Chakravarty said the episode highlighted “the need for technocrats and lateral entrants to responsible positions in public life to be ethically, legally, and optically above board.” He said bodies such as the Economic Advisory Council to the PM also have several members who simultaneously hold private sector positions in financial markets that allow them to profit from material non-public information. “The optics does not bode well even if all the members are capable individuals of the highest integrity,” he said.
Union Minister Giriraj Singh said Hindenburg Research has defamed the country in alliance with Congress and that “strictest action” would be taken against the US short-seller.