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Gautam Adani indicted in US for alleged role in bribery

scheme

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Adani Group rejects allegations as baseless

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Opposition calls for parliamentary probe into Adani Group

By Sakshi Dayal and Shilpa Jamkhandikar

NEW DELHI, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Indian opposition parties

demanded a probe on Thursday into allegations of wrongdoing by

the Adani Group and said they would raise the issue in

parliament after its chair Gautam Adani was charged in the U.S.

over an alleged bribery scheme.

Billionaire Adani was indicted by U.S. prosecutors for his

alleged role in a $265 million bribery and fraud scheme and

arrest warrants were issued for him and his nephew, plunging his

conglomerate deep into crisis for the second time in two years.

The Adani Group rejected the allegations as baseless and

said it complied fully with all laws.

Adani has been the target of Indian opposition parties who

say that he and his conglomerate have been protected by Prime

Minister Narendra Modi's government, charges both deny.

Modi's opponents say he has longstanding ties with Adani,

going back nearly two decades to when Modi was chief minister of

the western state of Gujarat, to which Adani also belongs.

They accuse the government of favouring the group in

business deals, charges the government has rejected as "wild

allegations".

"We are raising this issue, it is my responsibility to raise

this issue as leader of opposition," Rahul Gandhi, leader of the

main opposition Congress party, told reporters when asked if he

would bring it up in parliament next week.

Gandhi has led the opposition attack against Modi for what

he says are Modi's links to Adani since U.S. short-seller

Hindenburg Research issued a report last year accusing the Adani

group of using offshore tax havens improperly - which the

company has denied.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge called for a

comprehensive parliamentary probe into "every aspect of the

working of the Adani Group".

Sanjay Singh, a lawmaker from the opposition Aam Aadmi

Party, said the indictment was a serious matter.

"All pending matters against Adani should be probed by an

investigation agency and monitored by the Supreme Court," Singh

said.

There was no immediate response to the indictment from the

Indian government.

However, Amit Malviya, a leader of Modi's Bharatiya Janata

Party and its IT cell head, said Congress should not get

"needlessly excited".

"The document you quote says, 'The charges in the indictment

are allegations and the defendants are presumed innocent unless

and until proven guilty'," he said in response to a post by

Congress spokesman Jairam Ramesh seeking a parliamentary probe.

"The timing of the report, just before the parliament

session and Donal(d) Trump's impending presidency raises several

questions," he said, without elaborating.