Hindenburg 2.0: OCCRP alleges Mauritius-based opaque funds invested in Adani stock; company denies
New Delhi (PTI): The Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) on Thursday trained gun at billionaire Gautam Adani's group, alleging hundreds of millions of dollars were invested in publicly traded group stocks through Mauritius-based 'opaque' investment funds managed by partners of promoter family, charges the conglomerate denied vehemently.
The fresh allegations by an organisation funded by likes of George Soros and Rockefeller Brothers Fund come months after a US short seller wiped away close to USD 150 billion in value of Adani group stocks with allegations of accounting fraud, stock price manipulation and improper use of tax havens by the ports-to-energy conglomerate run by billionaire Gautam Adani. Adani Group has denied all Hindenburg allegations.
Citing review of files from multiple tax havens and internal Adani Group emails, OCCRP said its investigation found at least two cases where the "mysterious" investors bought and sold Adani stock through such offshore structures.
The two men, Nasser Ali Shaban Ahli and Chang Chung-Ling, who OCCRP claimed have longtime business ties to the Adani family and have also served as directors and shareholders in Group companies and firms associated with Gautam Adani's elder brother Vinod Adani, "spent years buying and selling Adani stock through offshore structures that obscured their involvement - and made considerable profits in the process."
The documents "show that the management company in charge of their investments paid a Vinod Adani company to advice them in their investment", it alleged.
Adani in a statement categorically rejected what it called as "recycled allegations", calling them "yet another concerted bid by Soros-funded interests supported by a section of the foreign media to revive the meritless Hindenburg report".
"These claims are based on closed cases from a decade ago when the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) probed allegations of over invoicing, transfer of funds abroad, related party transactions and investments through FPIs. An independent adjudicating authority and an appellate tribunal had both confirmed that there was no over-valuation and that the transactions were in accordance with applicable law. The matter attained finality in March 2023 when the Supreme Court of India ruled in our favour. Clearly, since there was no over-valuation, there is no relevance or foundation for these allegations on transfer of funds," it said.
The foreign portfolio investors named in the OCCRP report "are already part of the investigation by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)", it said. "As per the Expert Committee appointed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court, there is no evidence of any breach of the Minimum Public Shareholding (MPS) requirements or manipulation of stock prices."
"These attempts are aimed at, inter alia, generating profits by driving down our stock prices and these short sellers are under investigation by various authorities. As the Supreme Court and SEBI are overseeing these matters, it is vital to respect the ongoing regulatory process," it said. "We have complete faith in the due process of law and remain confident of the quality of our disclosures and corporate governance standards. In light of these facts, the timing of these news reports is suspicious, mischievous and malicious - and we reject these reports in their entirety."
PTI had on August 24 reported that the Soros-funded organisation, which calls itself an investigative reporting platform formed by 24 non-profit investigative centres... spread across Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America, is planning publication of fresh allegations against a top Indian corporate.
OCCRP asked if Ahli and Chang should be considered to be acting on behalf of Adani promoters. "If so, their stake in the Adani Group would mean that insiders altogether owned more than the 75 per cent allowed by law," it said, adding this violated Indian listing law.
It went on to state that there was no evidence Chang and Ahli's money for their investments coming from the Adani family, but said its investigation showed there "is evidence" that their trading in Adani stock "was coordinated with the family".
"The Adani Group's rise has been staggering, growing from under USD 8 billion in market capitalization in September 2013 -- the year before Modi became prime minister -- to USD 260 billion last year," it said.
The conglomerate is active in a dizzying array of fields, including transportation and logistics, natural gas distribution, coal trade and production, power generation and transmission, road construction, data centres, and real estate.
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All-party meet: Govt appeals to all parties to ensure smooth functioning of Parliament
New Delhi (PTI): Amid demands from the opposition to discuss bribery charges against the Adani group, the government on Sunday said the business advisory committees of both Houses will decide on matters to be discussed in the Winter session and appealed to parties to ensure smooth functioning of Parliament.
Ruling party leaders met floor leaders of political parties ahead of the start of the Winter session on Monday.
After the meeting, Parliamentary Affairs minister Kiren Rijiju told reporters that the government appealed to all parties to ensure smooth running of Parliament.
Responding to a question on opposition's demand for taking up the Adani issue, he said the respective Business Advisory Committees of the Houses will decide on matters to be discussed in Parliament with consent from Lok Sabha speaker and Rajya Sabha chairperson.
At the meeting, Congress members raised the issue of bribery charges against the Adani group as well as the situation in Manipur.
Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi said the party wants discussion on Adani as well as ethnic strife in Manipur. He said while the chief minister of Jharkhand was arrested, the government still has confidence in the chief minister of Manipur despite bouts of ethnic violence.
The opposition party also sought a discussion on the issue of rising pollution in north India and train accidents.
Congress leader Pramod Tiwari said his party wanted the issue of Adani to be taken up in Parliament as the first thing when it meets on Monday.
It is a grave issue involving the country's economic and security interests as over Rs 2,300 crore were allegedly paid by the company to politicians and bureaucrats to get favourable deal for its solar energy projects, the Rajya Sabha MP said.
Billionaire Gautam Adani has been charged by US prosecutors for allegedly being part of a scheme to pay USD 265 million (about Rs 2,200 crore) bribe to Indian officials in exchange of favourable terms for solar power contracts.
The group has denied the charges.
The Congress, he said, also wanted a discussion on issues like severe air pollution in north India, the Manipur situation, which has gone "out of control", and train accidents.
The meeting was convened by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju.
BJP president J P Nadda, Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh and Gaurav Gogoi besides T Siva, Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Anupriya Patel attended the meet.
The Winter Session of Parliament, beginning Monday, is scheduled to last till December 20.
The government has listed 16 bills, including the Waqf Amendment Bill, for consideration in the session.
The bills pending in the Lok Sabha include the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, which has been listed for consideration and passage after the joint committee of the two Houses submits its report to the Lok Sabha.
The panel is mandated to submit its report on the last day of the first week of the Winter session.
Opposition members on the panel are demanding an extension in the timeline to submit its report. They have alleged that committee chair Jagdambika Pal, a BJP MP, is bulldozing the committee meetings and has sought the intervention of Speaker Om Birla.
Rijiju said there is a provision to extend the tenure of the joint committee but as of now, thee have been no discussions. He underlined that that the business advisory committee of the Lok SSbha is the platform to discuss the issue of extension of time for the panel.
The presentation, discussion and voting on the First Batch of Supplementary Demands for Grants for the year 2024-25 has also been listed.
The other bill listed by the government for introduction, consideration and passage is the Punjab Courts (Amendment) Bill to enhance the pecuniary (defined as the monetary value of a case) appellate jurisdiction of Delhi district courts from the existing Rs 3 lakh to Rs 20 lakh.
It also includes the Merchant Shipping Bill that seeks to ensure compliance with India's obligation under maritime treaties to which New Delhi is a party. Besides, the Coastal Shipping Bill and the Indian Ports Bill have also been listed for introduction and eventual passage.
As many as eight bills, including the Waqf (Amendment) Bill and the Mussalman Wakf (Repeal) Bill, are pending in Lok Sabha. According to a Lok Sabha bulletin, two bills are pending with the Rajya Sabha.
The Rajya Sabha bulletin said an additional bill The Bharatiya Vayuyan Vidheyak, passed by the Lok Sabha is pending with the Upper House.
A set of proposed bills to implement simultaneous elections in the country are not part of the list yet, though some reports suggested that the government is likely to bring the proposed legislation in the coming session.
