Mukesh Ambani is richest Asian as Adani tumbles out on Hindenburg row
New Delhi, Feb 01: Ports-to-energy tycoon Gautam Adani has tumbled on the world's top billionaire ranking and is no longer the richest Asian or Indian.
Rival business magnate Mukesh Ambani, who was richest Indian before Adani's eye popping gains in company stock prices catapulted him to top spot in April last year, has regained that position.
Adani, who ranked third richest in the world on the Forbes billionaire list just a week back, dropped to 15th position on Wednesday as his group stock continued to tumble in the aftermath of a damning report by a US short seller.
Ambani with USD 83.7 billion wealth is ranked No.9 on the list, according to Forbes website.
Adani, who has seen all of the USD 44 billion wealth gain he made last year vanish in one week, was ranked on 15th position with USD 75.1 billion wealth.
Since US-based short-seller Hindenburg in its January 24 report alleged that the group was "engaged in a brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme over the course of decades", Adani companies have lost USD 90 billion market value.
Adani group has dismissed the charges as lies, saying it complies with all laws and disclosure requirements. It called the Hindenburg report baseless and has threatened to sue the short seller.
The drop in rank comes a day after the Adani group managed to muster support from investors for a Rs 20,000 crore share sale for flagship firm Adani Enterprises despite the trading price of the stock being lower than the offer price.
Shares of Adani Enterprises plunged 30 per cent on Wednesday while Adani Power fell 5 per cent, Adani Total Gas slumped 10 per cent and Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone dropped 20 per cent.
Adani Total Gas, a joint venture with France's TotalEnergie, has been the biggest casualty of the short seller report, as it has lost about USD 27 billion in market capitalisation.
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
