The Congress party on Wednesday came down heavily on the Securities and Exchange Board of India for its prolonged investigation into the allegations of share price manipulation by Hindenburg Research against the Adani Group. Congress MP Manish Tewari said that if SEBI wanted, the investigation could have completed long time back but it is "dragging its feet" in the matter.
Tewari's remark came after the Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected the OCCRP report on Adani Group and held that there was no ground to transfer the investigation from SEBI to an SIT.
"The fundamental fact remains that the Hindenburg report came into the public domain exactly one year ago and since one year, SEBI has been dragging its feet on the allegations made in the Hindenburg report," said the Congress MP while speaking to news agency ANI.
"If on a matter as sensitive as this, it takes one year to even complete an investigation, it just goes to show how lackadaisical the attitude of SEBI is," he said.
"If SEBI wanted, it could have completed the investigation a long time back and we repeatedly raised this matter even in the Parliamentary Standing Committee of Finance," the Congress MP added.
The Wednesday judgment was pronounced by a bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, and justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra on a batch of pleas over allegations of stock price manipulation by Adani Group.
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Last year, US short-seller, Hindenburg Research made a litany of allegations against the Indian business conglomerate, including those about fraudulent transactions and share-price manipulation, after which the Adani Group stocks bludgeoned in the bourses.
The charges were rejected by the Adani Group as lies saying it complies with all laws and disclosure requirements.