Fresh plea in Supreme Court questions expert committee panel in Adani-Hindenburg case

A new intervening application has been submitted in the Supreme Court requesting the formation of a fresh expert committee comprising individuals with unblemished integrity and no conflicts of interest in the matter related to the Hindenburg reportThe application has been filed by one of the petitioners Anamika Jaiswal through her advocate Ramesh Kumar MishraThe application highlights concerns about certain members of the existing committees suggesting conflicts of interest In March 2023 the Supreme Court established an Expert Committee to investigate allegations made against the Adani Group in the Hindenburg Report and examine potential regulatory failuresThe committee chaired by Justice Retd Abhay Manohar Sapre included members O P Bhatt Justice J P Devadhar KV Kamath Nandan Nilekani and Somashekhar SundaresanThe application specifically questions the involvement of OP Bhatt a member of the Expert Committee and former Chairman of the State Bank of India who is presently the Chairman of Greenko a renewable energy companyIt notes that Greenko and the Adani Group have been in a close partnership since March 2022 to provide energy to Adanis facilities in IndiaK V Kamath another member of the committee was Chairman of ICICI Bank from 1996 to 2009 and was mentioned in a CBI FIR related to the ICICI Bank fraud caseThe case revolved around Chanda Kochhar who served as the Managing Director and CEO of ICICI Bank from 2009 to 2018 The CBI alleged that she and her family received kickbacks in exchange for loans provided to the Videocon group many of which became nonperforming assets NPAs during her tenureKamath was the nonexecutive chairman of the bank at the time some of these loans were approved and was also a member of the committee that sanctioned themThe petitioner had previously raised concerns about another committee member Somashekhar Sundaresan citing his representation of Adani before various forums including the SEBI BoardRecent developments indicate that out of the 24 investigations stemming from the Hindenburg report 22 have concluded while two remain interim in nature according to a report filed by the Securities and Exchange Board of India SEBI with the Supreme CourtSEBI stated that it had sought information from external agenciesentities and would evaluate it concerning the interim investigation reportsAppropriate action would be taken based on the outcome of the investigations SEBI assured in accordance with the lawThe Supreme Court had granted SEBI an additional three months in May to conduct its probe into the Hindenburg reportThe Court had directed SEBI on March 2 this year to investigate potential violations of securities laws by the Adani Group following the Hindenburg reports release which led to a significant decline in the groups market valueVarious petitions related to the Hindenburg report including those addressing regulatory mechanisms to protect investors interests have been filed in the Supreme CourtThe January 24 Hindenburg report had alleged stock manipulation and fraud by the conglomerate a claim that the Adani Group vehemently refuted calling the report a lie by an unethical short sellerThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever