Congress questions DRI's handling of cases involving Adani companies

New Delhi: The Congress on Tuesday asked why it has taken the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) "more than eight years" to complete its investigation into the imports of power equipment by the Adani Group and whether the contents of its report will be made public.

Posing another set of questions on Twitter as part of its continuing attack on the Adani issue, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh also asked why the DRI did not appeal against the ruling of the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal that set aside a 2013 order imposing a fine on Adani companies for circular trading of diamonds and claiming export subsidies.

"Why has it taken more than eight years for this report to be finished and will you permit the DRI to make its potentially damning contents public? Or is this another instance of you allowing your cronies to siphon Rs 5,468 crore in inflated capital costs. to be ultimately borne by consumers and taxpayers," he asked, targeting the Centre.

Ramesh said Parliament was againt adjourned on Tuesday because the Modi government "is refusing the Opposition demand for JPC" probe into the Adani issue and stressed that the Supreme Court committee is "no substitute".

"Here is HAHK(Hum Adanike Hain Kaun)-28," he said, adding that this set of questions is also the fifth in a sub-series titled "Dikh Raha Hai Vinod" that relates to the alleged role of Gautam Adani's elder brother Vinod Adani.

Ramesh said that in a March 13, 2023 Lok Sabha reply, the minister of state for finance stated that an investigation into alleged over-invoicing by the Adani Group of imported Indonesian coal being conducted by India's premier anti-smuggling agency - Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) - had "not reached finality as the information sought from exporting countries through execution of Letters Rogatory is under litigation".

In 2016, he said the DRI had alleged that 40 Indian companies including Adani Enterprises, Adani Power, Adani Wilmar, Adani Power Maharashtra and Adani Power Rajasthan were over-invoicing imported Indonesian coal with the goal of "siphoning-off money abroad" and "to avail higher power tariff compensation based on artificially inflated cost of the imported coal".

Another DRI investigation that has gone nowhere, he claimed, is into the 2004-06 Diamond Scam in which Gautam Adani's relatives were accused of circular trading of diamonds and fraudulently claiming export subsidies.

"In 2013, the Commissioner of Customs fined... Adani Enterprises and five diamond trading companies linked to the Adani Group. However in 2015....the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal set aside the Commissioner's order and dismissed the findings of the years-long investigation.

"Why did the DRI not appeal the tribunal's order?" the Congress leader asked.