New stock manipulation charges against Adani Group by OCCRP

The Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project OCCRP on Thursday trained its guns at billionaire Gautam Adanirsquos group alleging hundreds of millions of dollars were invested in publicly traded group stocks through Mauritiusbased lsquoopaquersquo investment funds managed by partners of promoter family charges the conglomerate denied vehementlyThe fresh allegations by the organisation come months after a US short seller wiped away close to 150 billion in value of Adani group stocks with allegations of accounting fraud stock price manipulation and improper use of tax havens by the portstoenergy conglomerate run by billionaire Gautam Adani Adani Group has denied all Hindenburg allegationsCiting review of files from multiple tax havens and internal Adani Group emails OCCRP said its investigation found at least two cases where the ldquomysteriousrdquo investors bought and sold Adani stock through such offshore structures The two men Nasser Ali Shaban Ahli and Chang ChungLing who OCCRP claimed have longtime business ties to the Adani family and also served as directors and shareholders in Group companies and firms associated with Gautam Adanirsquos elder brother Vinod ldquospent years buying and selling Adani stock through offshore structures that obscured their involvement mdash and made considerable profits in the processrdquo The documents ldquoshow that the management company in charge of their investments paid a Vinod Adani company to advise them in their investmentrdquo it allegedGuardian reportsThe Guardian reported that associates of the Adani family may have spent years discreetly acquiring stock in the Adani Grouprsquos own companies eventually becoming one of Indiarsquos largest and most powerful businesses ldquoNew documents obtained by the OCCRP and shared with the Guardian and the Financial Times reveal for the first time the details of an undisclosed and complex offshore operation in Mauritius ndash seemingly controlled by Adani associates ndash that was allegedly used to support the share prices of its group of companies from 2013 to 2018rdquo reported The GuardianlsquoRecycled allegationsrsquoAdani in a statement categorically rejected the ldquorecycled allegationsrdquo calling them ldquoyet another concerted bid by Sorosfunded interests supported by a section of the foreign media to revive the meritless Hindenburg reportrdquoldquoThese 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 overvaluation 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 overvaluation there is no relevance or foundation for these allegations on transfer of fundsrdquo it said AAP seeks JPC probe The Arvind Kejriwalled Aam Aadmi party said a Joint Parliamentary Committee JPC should be set up to probe the charges against the Adani Group ldquoI urge the apex court to take cognisance of the OCCRP report and take strictest action against Adanirdquo AAP leader Sanjay Singh told a press conferenceldquoThe SEBI cannot probe the allegations against the Adani Group because the matter is related to Narendra Modirsquos closest friend Gautam Adanirdquo the Rajya Sabha MP said AAPrsquos national spokesperson Reena Gupta demanded that a JPC be constituted for a thorough probe in the matter ldquobecause it is clear that neither the SEBI nor any other agencyrdquo will be able to investigate the allegations against the Adani GroupCPI M issues statementldquoFresh evidence has emerged about the Adani Grouprsquos manipulation of stock prices of its companies to inflate their value and assets Adanirsquos links with Prime Minister Modi have so far ensured that the regulatory authorities do not take any action against the widespread fraud and manipulation of the stock marketrdquo the Communist Party of India Marxist said in a statement ldquoThe report also shows that the SEBI was looking into the matter of offshore funding of Adani companies in 2014 but had closed the enquiries subsequently The fresh evidence necessitates a serious probe and the Supreme Court has to step in to ensure that there is no cover uprdquo the Left party addedCongress attacks governmentCongress general secretary Jairam Ramesh questioned the role of market regulator SEBI in properly investigating the role of shell companies linked to the Adani GroupldquoDespite the Modi governmentrsquos best efforts the truth will not stay suppressed forever However the full story about the flow of benami funds into the Adani Group how foreign citizens came to play a role in critical national infrastructure and how PM Narendra Modi lsquoviolated rules regulations and norms to enrich his close friendsrsquo can only be revealed by a JPCrdquo he allegedRamesh said ldquoquestions remain about SEBIrsquos role Did the obvious conflict of interest revealed by the association of past SEBI chairpersons with the Adani Group play a role in SEBIrsquos inability to properly investigate these shell companiesrdquoThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever