The Supreme Court heard the Hindenburg case today
New Delhi:
The Supreme Court today raised tough questions against petitioners in the case linked to a report by a George Soros-funded group that targeted the Adani Group.
“Why must we take foreign reports as the truth? We are not rejecting the report, but we need proof. So what proof do you have against the Adani Group?” Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud told the petitioner’s lawyer Prashant Bhushan.
The Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), funded by billionaire George Soros, had alleged insider trading in the Adani Group via two foreign investors. The Adani Group has called them “recycled allegations” and another concerted bid by Soros-funded interests supported by a section of the foreign media to revive the “meritless Hindenburg report”.
The capital markets regulator SEBI also dismissed the report as unreliable, coming from a “foreign non-profit (NGO)”.
“What will our agencies do if we act on such reports? There is a new trend of influencing Indian policies by foreign reports,” Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), told the Supreme Court.
SEBI said it contacted OCCRP for more information, but the George Soros-funded non-profit asked the regulator to get in touch with an NGO run by Prashant Bhushan.
“You appear in this so-called public interest litigation, get some report prepared and ask this without disclosing the source? I didn’t want to embarrass you. But this is conflict of interest,” Mr Mehta said.
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