In a court filing, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) said it has already approached eleven overseas regulators for information to examine if the Adani group had violated any norms regarding its publicly available shares.
“In the context of an investigation into Minimum Public Shareholding norms, SEBI has already approached eleven overseas Regulators under the Multilateral Memorandum of Understanding with International Organization of Securities Commissions. Various requests for information were made to these Regulators. The first request to overseas Regulators was made as early as on October 6, 2020,” the court filing read.
The regulator said that there was an investigation conducted into the issuance of Global Depository Receipts by 51 Indian-listed companies.
Following the investigation, appropriate actions were taken. However, no listed company of the Adani Group was part of these 51 companies. Citing this action, SEBI said that allegations of it investigating Adani since 2016 are ‘factually baseless’.
The Supreme Court Friday said it will consider granting three more months to the Securities and Exchange Board of India to wrap up its probe into allegations of stock price manipulation by the Adani group while rejecting suggestions that it had blamed SEBI for regulatory failure.The apex court said it was to ascertain whether there was a regulatory failure that it had appointed an expert committee whose report it has received.A bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud fixed May 15 for hearing a batch of PILs on the Adani-Hindenburg row as an application by SEBI seeking an extension of time to complete the probe into alleged stock price manipulation by the Adani group.
“There has to be some sense of responsibility… You must be conscious of the fact that whatever allegations you make, it affects the stability and volatility of the stock market,” Justice Chandrachud said, reacting angrily to submissions made by a petitioner’s lawyer about regulatory failure on part of SEBI.
The bench, also comprising Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala, however, decided not to give much leeway to SEBI, which sought six months to conclude the probe, saying it has to show some alacrity and complete it within three months.
(With agency and ET Bureau inputs)
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