Adani-Hindenburg issue: Launching a fresh attack on the embattled Adani Group and the Centre, the Congress alleged that a Chinese national played a “dubious role” in the Adani Group’s activities and asked the Narendra Modi-led government if it was not concerned that the conglomerate may be involving that person in important defence contracts.
In their latest edition of its ‘Hum Adani Ke Hai Kaun’ series, the Congress questioned the dubious role of Chinese national Chang Chung-Ling in the activities of the Adani Group and his “close association” with Gautam Adani’s brother Vinod Adani.
The Congress alleged that Chang is involved in “smuggling petroleum products to North Korea in violation of UN sanctions”.
The party further said that Chang’s links to the Adani Group are “extremely close”. In 2005, Chang declared the same residential address in Singapore as Vinod Adani.
It added that Chang’s firm Gudami International, which is based in Singapore, was named by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) as part of its probe into the alleged 2013 diamond trading scam involving the Adani Group.
"As we pointed out on February 4, Chang Chung-Ling is alleged to be involved in activities such as smuggling petroleum products to North Korea in violation of UN sanctions. Chang's Adani links are extremely close: in 2005, he declared the same residential address in Singapore as Vinod Adani and his Singapore-based firm Gudami International was named by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence in its investigation into the Adani Group's diamond trading scam in 2013," senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh claimed.
“Reportedly, Gudami was named in the first ED chargesheet against the prime accused in the AgustaWestland VVIP helicopter scam Gautam Khaitan in 2014 and in a supplementary chargesheet against the co-accused Rajiv Saxena in 2017,” said the Congress.
It also alleged that despite all of this, Gudami’s name “mysteriously disappeared from the third ED chargesheet in 2018”.
The Congress party has launched the campaign, ‘Hum Adani Ke Hai Kaun’, in a bid to highlight the Adani Group’s operations and Gautam Adani’s ties to PM Narendra Modi.
In his statement issued addressed to the PM, Ramesh on Monday questioned the alleged "clean chit to the Adanis' close colleague" in the AgustaWestland scam.
"Is this why the investigation has lingered for so many years? Are you not concerned that the Adanis maybe involve a Chinese national in important defence contracts" Ramesh asked in his statement, which was part of a sub-series on the allegations against Adani -- "Dikh Raha Hai Vinod".
Ramesh added that shortly after allegations of corruption appeared, the UPA government took proactive action against AgustaWestland's parent company Finmeccanica (later Leonardo).
"It started a CBI inquiry on February 12, 2013, terminated the helicopter contract on January 1, 2014, and encashed bank guarantees on January 15, 2014, in India and on May 23, 2014 in Italy. Leonardo was barred from future Indian military tenders on August 26, 2014," Ramesh said.
He added: "Yet on November 14, 2021, the government abruptly lifted its ban. Why, with the case still pending, have you lifted the ban on a company accused of bribery and corruption? Are you again trying to facilitate the Adani Group's defence sector activities by misusing government agencies?"
He pointed out that the ban on Leonardo was lifted shortly after PM Modi's October 29, 2021, meeting with Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi.
He lastly asked: “To pave the way for a successful meeting, you also dropped all the charges against the two Italian Marines accused of killing Indian fishermen. Is your desire for approval by foreign leaders stronger than your desire to investigate corruption in Indian defence deals or to do justice to Indian citizens? Will we now see the Adani Group getting involved in deals with Italian defence companies?”
(With agency inputs)
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