Vinod Adani operating shell firms in collusion with Chinese nationals, alleges Congress

Jairam Ramesh flags the alleged “disturbing Chinese connections” of the Adani Group that has control over critical Indian infrastructure such as ports and airports

Congress General Secretary in-charge Communications Jairam Ramesh. File | Photo Credit: ANI

The Congress on March 3, 2023, as part of its ongoing “Hum Adani ke Hain Kaun” (HAHK) series, accused Gautam Adani’s elder brother Vinod Adani of operating shell companies in “collusion with Chinese nationals” and asked whether the Narendra Modi government would investigate the group.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the focus of his fresh set of questions to Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on the alleged “disturbing Chinese connections” of the Adani Group that has control over critical Indian infrastructure such as ports and airports.

The Gautam Adani-led group had dismissed the charges levelled against it in the aftermath of the Hindenburg Research report as baseless and termed them ‘lies’.

“A Chinese national, Chang Chung-Ling (aka Lingo-Chang) has been a director in several Adani Group companies along with Vinod Adani and has also made an appearance in the Panama Papers,” Mr. Ramesh claimed. The Congress leader said that in December 2017, South Korea seized the Panama-registered oil tanker Koti for transferring petroleum products to a North Korean tanker in violation of UN sanctions. “It emerged that the Koti, which South Korea subsequently scrapped, was owned by Chang Chung-Ling’s sons Chien-Ting Chang and Chien-Huan Chang. The Koti and the Koti Corporation are both on UN and U.S. sanctions lists,” he added.

“There are deeper links with the Adani Group: Chien-Ting Chang is also known to be an owner of PMC Projects that helped construct Mundra and other Adani Group ports,” the Congress leader alleged, and added, “Are you recklessly endangering the security of critical Indian assets by your dependence on a business group that is vulnerable to being influenced by China and North Korea”.

“Only a JPC [joint parliamentary committee] probe can unravel the full political and financial dimensions of the PM-linked Adani Maha Mega Scam. No expert can or will,” Mr. Ramesh said in a tweet.