Congress leader and currently disqualified Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi has been consistently asking one question. “Whose Rs 20,000 money is there in Adani’s shell companies?”
When a journalist asked Rahul Gandhi’s comment on taking an entourage of senior Congress leaders for filing an appeal in a Sessions Court in defamation case, Rahul Gandhi got upset and hit back with why was journalist asking what BJP is asking. Which is literally the journalist’s job – to get reactions, comments on allegations.
That apart, Rahul Gandhi questions whose money to the tune of Rs 20,000 crore is lying in the shell companies of Adani? He asserts the money is ‘benami’. As per The Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, 1988, “benami transaction means any transaction in which property is transferred to one person for a consideration paid or provided by another person.” The Indian laws specifically prohibit benami transactions and is punishable by law including imprisonment.
So Rahul Gandhi alleged that there is benami money worth Rs 20,000 crore in shell companies of Adani group. Let us break this down and figure out where did he get this exact figure from, since he has not provided any source, and if at all there is this money lying somewhere, where could it have come from.
On March 23, 2023, Rahul Gandhi addressed a press conference after he was convicted in defamation case leading to his disqualification. On March 25, 2023, he shared a snippet of his conference with background music alleging that Gautam Adani is a corrupt man.
Rahul Gandhi, in as many words, asserted that PM Modi is ‘saving’ this corrupt man (Adani). He claimed that ‘we have caught Rs 20,000 crore entering Mr Adani’s company. Nobody knows whose money that is. That money cannot be Mr Adani’s money’. He alleged that the defamation case against him for insulting the OBC Modi community over his ‘all Modi surname people are thieves’ is a tactic to distract the panic PM Modi is having over his relationship with Adani being ‘exposed’.
Rahul Gandhi didn’t specify but cast enough aspersions to insinuate that the Rs 20,000 crore money was parked by PM Modi. Congress’ official social media account has also been tweeting wordplays of ‘Modani’ to insinuate that somehow PM Modi is part of some huge financial scam along with Gautam Adani.
So, where did Rahul Gandhi come up with this Rs 20,000 crore figure? You see, while he has been making these allegations, he has not quite given source for this very specific amount. A bit of Google search led us to Leftist propaganda website The Wire which had given an ‘explainer’ of this Rs 20,000 crore figure. Till then, no one knew where this figure came from. As if on cue, The Wire had rushed to explain on behalf of Rahul Gandhi, a task which was earlier carried out by the likes of Rajdeep Sardesai and Ravish Kumar.
On March 22, 2023, Financial Times (FT) had published a report titled ‘Indian data reveals Adani empire’s reliance on offshore funding’. In the report, FT had claimed offshore companies linked to the Adanis invested at least $2.6 bn in the group between 2017 and 2022.
This, USD 2.6 billion is approximately Rs 21,000/Rs 20,000 crore which Rahul Gandhi is talking about.
Amusingly, FT cites one Harvard Business School associate professor who is upset that Adani has very complex transactions.
Clearly Prof Heese has not dealt with Indian taxation laws ever. Jokes apart, just because something is complex, it does not mean it is illegal. FT also cites TMC’s Mahua Moitra, who was recently caught lying about State Bank of India (SBI)’s exposure to Adani Group. She deleted her tweet after being called out for blatant lies and misleading citizens.
As long as something is within the purview of the law, I’m quite certain Adani is free to run the business the way he wants.
Now that we know where they mystery figure Rahul Gandhi is citing came from, let us read the rest of FT article to see if they have mentioned source.
Yes, FT mentions that the said USD 2.6 billion came from its offshore companies. FT does not mention where it came up with this figure. FT claims this figure is derived after analysing ‘FDI’ (foreign direct investment) data. But it does not give specifics on which data was used. In its methodology section, FT mentions that it analysed India’s ‘share-based route’ and ‘automatic route for FDI, under which purchases of shares or equity-like debt are reported by Indian entities to India’s Central Bank, which would be the Reserve Bank of India.
Essentially, in absence of specific data used by FT to arrive at the figure, it is difficult to verify the claims by FT on Rs 20,000 crore figure. So, OpIndia cannot verify this figure. We leave it to our readers’ wisdom.
Rahul Gandhi’s next question is whose money is this.
Let us assume the Rs 20,000 crore was routed to Adani group companies through offshore companies. The FT report itself claims that this money was routed through companies linked with Adani. As per the FT report, most of these shell companies which are allegedly supplying FDI to Adani Group is disclosed as part of Adani’s ‘promoter group’. Which means, closely tied to Adani or his immediate family. Umm, so if FT is to be believed, this Rs 20,000 crore imaginary figure is Adani’s own money?
So, Rahul Gandhi did not read the article? Did his team not made him aware of facts before he addresses media or tweets things with so much confidence? So, Rs 20,000 crore Rahul Gandhi is claiming to be ‘benami’ is Adani’s own as per FT claims?
Again, to make it clear, OpIndia does not endorse Rahul Gandhi’s allegations of Rs 20,000 crore benami money. Adani Group has not yet reacted to the fresh allegations. Maybe because they did not even think this should be dignified with a response.
Rahul Gandhi and China love-hate relationship
In the same press conference where Rahul Gandhi first raked up the Rs 20,000 crore issue, he had mentioned, “Rs 20,000 crore has suddenly arrived in Adani’s shell companies. Where did the money come from? Whose money is it? Some of these companies are defence companies. Why is the defence ministry not asking the question? Why is nobody asking the question who this Chinese national is?”
I read the FT report at least three times to find out which Chinese national is he talking about. One would assume that the allegations of Chinese national investing in Indian defence sector via Adani Group would be from same source as the Rs 20,000 allegations. Rahul Gandhi has alleged that the Rs 20,000 crore have ‘arrived’ in Adani’s shell companies. He claims no one knows where the money came from and whose is it (FT report mentions it is Adani’s ‘promoter group’ companies, which means Adani’s own money) and then claims that some of these so-called shell companies are ‘defence companies’. He then invokes a Chinese national being involved in all this.
See, the thing is Rahul Gandhi has mixed up two different reports while making allegations. The Rs 20,000 crore shell company bit is from FT, but the ‘Chinese national’ allegation is from Hindenburg report. If you can’t convince them, confuse them seems to be Rahul Gandhi’s mantra.
Rahul Gandhi claims that all this Rs 20,000 crore was routed through shell companies to be invested in Defence sector in India. The Chinese national was seemingly invoked to cast aspersions that through Adani group there is some Chinese investment in Defence sector. This was not said in as many words, but enough to get the tongues of opposition leaders wagging.
You see, after Rahul Gandhi dog-whistled, people like Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal used their privilege and speaking inside the Delhi Assembly making outlandish allegations against the PM without any proof or backing. Last week, while addressing the Assembly during Budget session, Kejriwal had claimed that PM Modi is the ‘real investor’ and Adani is the front. This came soon after Rahul Gandhi’s Rs 20,000 crore remark. Kejriwal thereby used his privilege as an MLA and within the four walls of the Assembly, which protect him from any legal action, and said what Rahul Gandhi implied.
Except, here’s the truth about investment in Defence sector by Adani group. Following is an excerpt of the annual accounts of Adani Enterprise Limited for the year ending March 31, 2022.
Adani’s investment in its subsidiary Adani Defence Systems & Technologies Ltd is Rs 500.85 crore, about 0.5% of the Rs 20,000 crore Rahul Gandhi keeps talking about.
Further, the outstanding loans to Adani Defence Systems & Technologies Limited is also nil. So, no money moved from Adani’s parent company to its defence subsidiary.
So what exactly does Rahul Gandhi want Defence Ministry to look into?
To summarise,
- 1. Rahul Gandhi’s mysterious Rs 20,000 crore is from an FT report.
- 2. There is no way to verify how FT arrived at this figure.
- 3. Even if one is to believe the figure to be correct, FT report itself mentions the money from offshore accounts came from Adani promoter group.
- 4. Complex transaction does not mean illegal transactions.
- 5. There is no new investment in defence sector subsidiary of Adani group, Chinese or otherwise, as per its annual accounts for the year ending March 31, 2022.
- 6. Rahul Gandhi took figures from FT and Hindenburg and came up with his own set of conspiracy theories
- 7. While Adani Group has rejected all allegations by Hindenburg report, it has not considered it worth reacting to FT report. And if for arguments’ sake we consider allegations are correct, which is what Rahul Gandhi believes in, even then, all the money is Adani’s own. Not of ‘Modi’ as Rahul Gandhi seems to insinuate and Kejriwal seems to assert.
- 8. Rahul Gandhi should consult old guards of Congress, like P Chidambaram and Kapil Sibal before alleging financial irregularities – his socialist lackeys with doctorate in African Studies from JNU are not the brightest bulbs.