The Congress on Tuesday questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the tardiness of the directorate of revenue intelligence’s (DRI) investigations into several cases related to the Adani group, and wondered whether protection was being provided under political pressure.

“In a March 13, 2023, Lok Sabha reply, the minister of state for finance stated that an investigation into alleged over-invoicing by the Adani group of imported Indonesian coal, being conducted by India’s premier anti-smuggling agency, the DRI, had ‘not reached finality as information sought from exporting countries through execution of letters rogatory is under litigation’,” Congress communications chief Jairam Ramesh said.

“In 2016, the DRI had alleged that 40 Indian companies including Adani Enterprises, Adani Power, Adani Wilmar, Adani Power Maharashtra and Adani Power Rajasthan were over-invoicing imported Indonesian coal with the goal of ‘siphoning off money abroad’ and ‘to avail higher power tariff compensation based on artificially inflated cost of the imported coal’. This was done — in what is now a familiar story — through intermediaries in Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai and the British Virgin Islands.”

Ramesh added: “Despite a favourable Supreme Court order on 8 January 2020 to proceed, the DRI told Bombay High Court on June 13, 2021, that Adani Enterprises is trying to ‘impede’ its probe by challenging the ‘well-settled procedure of issuance of letter rogatory’ sent to courts in Singapore, Dubai, Hong Kong, Switzerland and Indonesia. “Given the heavy burden on consumers and taxpayers of inflated electricity prices, do you (Prime Minister) plan at any point to act in the interests of India’s citizens rather than your financiers? How long will your cronies be allowed to steal from the people of India to fill your party’s coffers?”

Ramesh recalled that the minister of state had in the same reply said that the DRI had concluded its investigation into imports of power equipment by the Adani group and submitted a report “before the relevant judicial authorities”.

“To remind you (the Prime Minister), the DRI found as far back as 2014 that three Adani group companies — Maharashtra Eastern Grid Power Transmission, Adani Power Maharashtra, and Adani Power Rajasthan — had paid the Dubai-based Electrogen Infra FZE Rs 9,048 crore for power equipment imported from China and South Korea actually worth Rs 3,580 crore, with the rest siphoned out of the country,” Ramesh said.

Ramesh said: “Electrogen was controlled by Vinod Adani via the Mauritius-based Electrogen Infra Holding. Why has it taken more than eight years for this report to be finished and will you permit the DRI to make its potentially damning contents public? Or is this another instance of you allowing your cronies to siphon (off) Rs 5,468 crore in inflated capital costs, to be ultimately borne by consumers and taxpayers?”

Ramesh referred to a third DRI investigation that he said had gone nowhere. He cited a 2004-06 controversy in which Gautam Adani’s younger brother Rajesh Adani and his brother-in-law Samir Vora were accused of circular trading of diamonds and fraudulently claiming export subsidies.

“In 2013, the commissioner of customs fined Rajesh Adani, Samir Vora, Adani Enterprises and five diamond-trading companies linked to the Adani group. However, in 2015, after you became PM, the customs, excise and service tax appellate tribunal set aside the commissioner’s order and dismissed the findings of the years-long investigation,” he said.

“Why did the DRI not appeal the tribunal’s order? Did you compel the ministry of finance to go easy on the fraud allegations against your close friends?”