SEBI In SC: Haven’t Conducted Any Investigations Into The Adani Group Companies Before Current Probe

On Monday (15 May), the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) informed the Supreme Court that it had not conducted any investigations into any of the Adani Group companies since 2016, and the allegations made against them were "factually baseless".

SEBI also asked for an extension of the deadline to complete the investigation into the allegations made in the Hindenburg report.

Furthermore, SEBI stated that any incorrect or premature conclusion of the investigation into possible lapses in regulatory disclosures by Gautam Adani's eponymous group would not serve the interest of justice and would be legally untenable.

SEBI also submitted that it had already approached 11 overseas regulators for information to examine whether the Adani group had violated any norms regarding its publicly available shares.

Last week, the apex court stated that it may grant a three-month extension to investigate the allegations of stock price manipulation by the Adani Group and regulatory lapses.

The court registry had received the report of the AM Sapre committee on the matter and would like to hear the case on Monday after reviewing the panel's findings, a bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala said.

The Supreme Court had previously instructed SEBI to investigate the crash of Adani group stocks following the Hindenburg report on 2 March, and the regulatory body was also asked to suggest ways to strengthen the regulatory framework to protect the interests of investors.

Furthermore, a six-member expert committee was established to determine whether there was any regulatory failure to deal with the matter.

The committee was instructed to submit its findings in a sealed cover within two months, and the chairman of SEBI was ordered to provide all relevant information to the committee.