Congress on Friday accused the Modi Government of going slow on the investigation into alleged irregularities in the practice of invoicing on import of electrical equipments and machinery by a subsidiary of the Adani Enterprises. The party also demanded a CBI investigation monitored by a Supreme Court judge into the alleged scam.
Referring to a 97-page report of the DRI, Congress spokesman Ajay Maken said as per the findings of the agency's probe into the matter, the Adani Group allegedly utilised a network of off-shore companies to purchase electrical equipment and sell them to the Indian counterpart at a much inflated value.
The party has sought a reply from Prime Minister as to why he was seen being accompanied by Adani Group head Gautam Adani on foreign tours, when his company had been accused of wrong-doing in an investigation by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI). The party will also pursue this matter by filing a petition before the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) on this issue soon.
"On February 5, 2013, the Congress-led UPA Government initiated an inquiry into the practice of over-invoicing in import of electrical equipment/machinery by a subsidiary of the Adani Enterprises ltd. The detailed findings of the investigation by the DRI concluded in 2014, gave clear and compelling evidence of over-invoicing of machinery by the Adani group," Maken said.
"Investigating this practice is critical as the price of this equipment has a direct bearing on the price paid by the common man for electricity. The DRI's findings hold the Adani Group and its shell companies responsible for bogusly overpricing the import of electricity generating and inflating its cost by up to 860 per cent more than its actual purchase value for an electricity project in Maharashtra using a front company in Dubai," added Maken.