New Delhi, May 11 (FN Bureau) The six-member expert committee set up by the Supreme Court by the publication of the Hindenburg report on Adani Group, has submitted its report to the Top Court in a sealed cover recently.The Special three-judge bench of the Supreme Court led by the Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dr Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chadrachud is scheduled to take up the expert committee report on May 12, Friday. The Apex Court will also on that day hear the SEBI’s plea seeking 6-month extension to complete the probe in the same Adani stocks crash matter. The market regulator, SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) had on April 29 moved the Top Court seeking a six-month extension to complete its probe into Hindenburg allegations of “brazen stock manipulation” and an “accounting fraud scheme” by the Adani group. It was opposed by the petitioner, Vishal Tiwari, who had said that this six month time limit should not be given to SEBI by the Top Court.
The SC should direct the SEBI to expedite the probe as soon as possible, Tiwari said. SEBI said that it needed more time, as the investigation is complex and requires additional time to ensure that all aspects of the allegations are thoroughly examined. There are 12 suspicious transactions for possible violations related to misrepresentation of financials, and fraudulent nature of transactions, the SEBI said in its petition filed before the Supreme Court. SEBI’s plea to the Supreme Court said that its preliminary findings on several possible violations by the Adani Group, includes, misrepresentation of financials, fraudulent transactions, disclosure norms, corporate governance norms, minimum public shareholding norms, and stock price manipulation.
The SEBI has also said that it arrived at a prima facie view based on trading in Adani stocks before and after the Hindenburg report, including possible violations of foreign portfolio investment (FPI) norms, overseas direct investment (ODI) norms, insider trading regulations, and norms on short selling. The SEBI, said that the deadline to submit the status report to the Supreme Court is May 2, the SC had said in its March 2 order, which also asked SEBI to “expeditiously conclude” the investigation within two months and file a status report.Supreme Court in its verdict on March 2, had said it was constituting a committe into the Adani-Hindenburg issue and it will be supervised by a SC-appointed a six-member panel, including O P Bhat, Justice JP Devdhar, K V Kamat, Nandan Nilekani and Somasekhar Sundaresan and the committe will be headed by Justice (Former) Abhay M Sapre.