The Supreme Court, on January 03, 2024, said that there were no grounds for taking away the investigation of the Adani group of companies in the Hindenburg report from the market’s regulator. It granted the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) three months to complete the investigation of two pending matters.

The Supreme Court also refused to interfere in the SEBI’s probe.  A bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra had reserved the judgement on November 24. It noted that there were no grounds to discredit SEBI’s investigation.

On August 23 last year, SEBI had told the Supreme Court that it had completed the probe in all but two allegations against the Adani group and is still awaiting information from five tax havens on actual owners behind foreign investors investing in the conglomerate.

“The power to transfer investigation must be exercised in exceptional circumstances. Such powers cannot be exercised in the absence of cogent justifications,” CJI Chandrachud said on January 03, 2024, as reported by Live Law.

On January 03, 2024, the apex court also said that the Centre and SEBI would look into whether Hindenburg Research violated any law on short selling. If there is a violation, they may take any action in accordance with law.

On the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) report, released on August 31 last year, the Supreme Court said that it cannot be considered to doubt the investigation and findings by SEBI. CJI said that a “third-party organization report without any verification cannot be relied upon as a proof”.

Moreover, the court also said that media reports cannot be considered as conclusive evidence but only as inputs in such cases.

Source: Agencies