‘Mr. Nagpur Wakeelsaab...’: Mahua Moitra slams Harish Salve over 'probe Hindenburg' remarks
In an interview, Harish Salve said Hindenburg “is no Good Samaritan” and that the committee should find all those who have made huge money by shorting shares.
Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra on Saturday hit out at senior lawyer Harish Salve for demanding a detailed probe against the US-based short-seller Hindenburg Research over the Adani row.
The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered an expert committee to investigate any regulatory failures related to the country's second-largest conglomerate, the Adani Group. The investigation was prompted by allegations made by US short-seller Hindenburg Research in a report that accused Adani companies of engaging in market manipulation and other fraudulent practices.
In an interview to NDTV, Salve said Hindenburg “is no Good Samaritan” and that the committee should find all those who have made huge money by shorting shares.
Shares in the group's flagship, Adani Enterprises, and other affiliated companies have lost tens of billions of dollars in market value since Hindenburg issued its report.
Taking a potshot at Salve, Moitra, in a series of tweets, said, “Loving way fat cat ex SG sitting pretty in London lecturing on how Hindenburg is to blame for middle class India’s Adani share losses! Mr. Nagpur Wakeelsaab make your fees from Adani while you can. Noone can save Humpty Dumpty this time, Sir!”
Moitra added, “Mister Salve should continue to defend his client in a court of law by all means. Doing paid PR for him on news channels as a fake independant expert voice is where the problem lies.”
The former solicitor general told NDTV that the committee must find out all those “who have made tonnes of money at the cost of the middle-class investor by shorting shares”.
Salve said regulators must treat it as market manipulation “and get them to disgorge and ban them from trading”. “We must set an example in our market - that first of all if there is a report, it must go to SEBI, it must go to the Serious Fraud Office, it must go to the ministry of corporate affairs - they will investigate and deal with such matters,” Salve told the news channel.
“But if you are going to use reports like this to attack companies, the SEBI will not sit quiet. They will go after the people who are exploiting market volatility, who have moneybags, exploiting volatility, hitting the middle-class investor,” the senior lawyer said.
In another tweet, Moitra alleged, “Mr. Ex- SG now in London, named in both Panama & Pandora papers for using deceitful offshore entities, accepts paid Adani PR brief via a certain M. Agarwala to help in Operation Whitewash. Talks of middle class Adani losses - God, the irony!”
The Adani Group has denied any wrongdoing, defending itself against the allegations in a 413 page rebuttal. In a tweet Thursday, it welcomed the top court order.
"It will bring finality in a time-bound manner. Truth will prevail,” the company said.
The expert committee will submit its findings to the Supreme Court within two months, said Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala.
