By Gurmukh Singh | Opinion |
After alleged trans-national plots to kill leading Sikhs who insist on pursuing Sikh self-determination cause, the damage done to India by the Gautam Adani case is serious.
As alleged, the defendants orchestrated an elaborate scheme to bribe Indian government officials to secure contracts worth billions of dollars. According to reports this is a huge blow to Indian business credibility and global investor will shy away from this company and maybe other Indian companies. The damage will be lasting despite the obvious trade and geo-political importance of India.
In the context of Indian trade importance to the UK, before returning to the Adani fiasco, let us look at a recent Sikh complaint against UK PM Keir Starmer. Sometimes even a glaring omission can be seen as calculated government policy. For example, was it a genuine oversight on the part of Starmer not sending a message on Guru Nanak Sahib Parkash Gurpurab on 15 November to over half a million British Sikhs?
Sikh Federation UK leading figure, ex-National Audit Office director, Dabinderjit Singh, wrote to PM Starmer: When you were the leader of the Opposition you put out excellent Gurpurb messages, but this oversight will be seen by many in the Sikh community that our community is being taken totally for granted now you are in power.
It seems two previous PMs, Borris Johnson and Rishi Sunak also forgot to send Guru Nanak Parkash wishes to British Sikhs and apologised later. One can never be sure if the omission regarding the most important Sikh festival by Downing Street is genuine oversight or policy-based to please the Indian administration which is never too happy when Sikhs are given recognition as a distinct community. Yet, Labour is proud to have 11 Sikh MPs following the general election this year.
Returning to the Adani case, the extent of damage in different spheres continues to be assessed by experts and analysts. For many years India has been regarded as a flawed democracy in the global Democracy Index which measures the state of democracy in 167 countries by tracking 60 indicators.
Adani case exposes corruption, called bhristachaar by Indian politicians and pundits. It is almost accepted as part of the Indian way of life. That is not to say that Western countries have a clean record. However, as the adage goes, a thief is one who gets caught. Adani and those close to him have got caught and can drag the BJP government with them.
[The billionaire Chairperson of Adani Group is likely to face a long road to trial in the US over criminal charges over his alleged multi-billion-dollar fraud and bribery scheme. He is also accused of conspiring to pay about US$265 million in bribes to Indian government officials to obtain contracts and develop India’s largest solar power plant project, reported Reuters.]
In India, there could be investigations and charges under several Indian laws, including the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992 and the Competition Act, 2002. However, it took the US FBI to expose the alleged Adani fraud involving US investors and markets.
Indian political reaction to the warrants issued by the US court in this case links them to US warrants issued in the Gurpatwant Singh Pannun murder plot bracketed with the Hardeep Singh Nijjar murder case in Canada. Two senior most figures close to PM Narendra Modi, Amit Shah and Adani have been named in Pannu and Adani cases respectively in the US. Indian media believes that the US is trying to get political leverage from these cases, which, otherwise, could have been settled behind the scenes by Canada and the US.
Such reaction is based on Indian ignorance of the US and Canadian law enforcement and judiciary processes.
Gurmukh Singh OBE, a retired UK senior civil servant, chairs the Advisory Board of The Sikh Missionary Society UK. Email: sewauk2005@yahoo.co.uk. Click here for more details on the author. The article first appeared at Panjab Times, UK
* This is the opinion of the writer, organisation or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Asia Samachar.
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