SC gives SEBI till Aug 14 for Adani probe
Supreme court said that Sebi can share status of probe in August and if there's a genuine issue, the court will consider it request for more time
The supreme court on Wednesday gave SEBI an extension till August 14, 2023 to probe the Adani-Hindenburg case. The markets regulator had sought 6 more months to complete its probe. SC had initially granted two months and has now granted 3 more months to Sebi. Supreme court said that Sebi can share status of probe in August and if there’s a genuine issue, the court will consider it request for more time. The court also reiterated that it cannot give an indefinite extension for completing the probe as it has already been given five months.
The Supreme Court also formed a committee headed by justice (retd) AM Sapre to study the matter. The panel will include veteran bankers K V Kamath and O P Bhat, Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani, retired Justice J.P. Devdhar and advocate Somasekhar Sundaresan.
On Monday, SEBI had termed the allegations of it probing Adani group companies since 2016 as “factually baseless”.
It said the probe in 2016 was related to 51 listed companies issuing global depository receipts, and no Adani firm was involved in that. However, the situation became complicated when after Sebi’s position was clarified in the court, the finance ministry asserted that it was standing by its earlier position as placed before the Lok Sabha in July 2021.
On July 19, 2021, MoS finance Pankaj Chaudhary placed a statement in reply to a question saying “Sebi is investigating some Adani group companies about compliance with Sebi regulations. Further, the DRI is investigating certain entities belonging to the Adani group of companies under laws administered by it.”
The statement by the finance ministry was in response to a point raised by Jairam Ramesh, Congress MP, who asked whether the government had lied in Parliament since its position was opposite of Sebi.
The Hindenburg Research report containing serious allegations of fraud committed by Adani group companies was published on January 24. It roiled not only the Adani group companies but also the markets in general to some extent. By the end of February, the Adani group firms had lost a total valuation to the tune of $150 billion.
Most of the shares have however recovered some lost ground since then.