Areview petition was filed on Tuesday against the Supreme Court‘s judgment that approved the capital markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) probe in the Adani-Hindenburg issue. The petitioner in a fresh plea stated that the judgment has “apparent errors” and Sebi’s regulatory failures were overlooked, the Economic Times reported.
Petitioner Anamika Jaiswal has said that there are “sufficient reasons which require review of the impugned order passed by the Supreme Court on January 3”. She noted that Sebi’s probe to check if the group violated securities laws is still ongoing.
On January 3, 2024, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, dismissed requests for creating a special investigation team (SIT) or transferring the probe into the allegations levelled by Hindenburg against the Adani Group to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The top court dismissed reliance on a third-party report and affirmed faith in SEBI’s handling of the case. The Government of India and the SEBI are to look into whether there is any infraction of law by the Hindenburg report on short selling and if so, take action following the law, the SC said in its judgment. The SC in January had asked SEBI to finish the probe in three months.
“SEBI has completed investigation in 20 out of 22 matters. Taking into account the assurance of the Solicitor General, we direct the SEBI to complete the investigation in the other two cases within three months,” CJI D Y Chandrachud said.
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As per Sebi, the 22 completed reports included two on manipulation of stock prices, 13 on failure to disclose Related Party Transactions (RTPs), five on violation of insider trading regulations and one each on violations of regulations on Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPI) and Acquisitions & Takeovers, the report said.
The petitioner has also alleged that new documents and evidence indicate that Adani Group companies have flagrantly violated certain rules.
In March 2023, the top court directed Sebi to look into any violations of securities law by the Adani Group in the wake of the Hindenburg report. The apex court also constituted an expert committee headed by retired Justice AM Sapre to also look into the matter. The expert committee, in its report released in May, found no prima facie lapse on the part of the Sebi in the matter.
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In January 2023, Hindenburg Research accused the Adani group of “brazen stock manipulation” and “accounting fraud scheme” . It said that the company was “pulling the largest con in corporate history”. The Adani group had rejected all these allegations.
The Supreme Court had given Sebi time till May 2023 to complete its probe. In May, the top court extended the deadline till August 14 to finish its investigation.
Later, the SEBI filed a status report before the SC and said that out of 24 investigations arising out of the Hindenburg report, 22 are final in nature and 2 are interim. SEBI said that it was awaiting information from tax havens on the interim investigations on actual owners behind foreign investors investing in the conglomerate.
The interim report tabled by the expert committee appointed by the Supreme Court concluded that there was no visible evidence of manipulation in the companies owned by billionaire Gautam Adani. The report also stated that there were no regulatory failures identified.
