Gautam Adani Vs George Soros: Adani Reveals Alleged FPI Funds 'Are Closed Cases From Decade Ago'

Billionaire Gautam Adani-backed Group has rejected yet another allegation related to brazen stock manipulation. This time it would be the George Soros-backed Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) that has released new findings into the allegations that were first posed by the US short seller Hindenburg. Just like the American short seller, Adani has rejected OCCRP's claims as well. Further, Adani shed key details about alleged Mauritius-based millions of dollars of investments by FPIs.

On Thursday, while responding to the OCCRP report, Adani revealed that allegations regarding FPIs investments are closed cases from decade ago.

In its report dated August 30, OCCRP said, the essence of the allegations was that some of the Adani Group's key "public" investors were in fact Adani insiders, a possible violation of Indian securities law. But none of the agencies contacted by the committee were able to identify those investors, since they were hidden behind secretive offshore structures.

According to OCCRP, these documents reveal how hundreds of millions of dollars were invested in publicly traded Adani stock through opaque investment funds based in the island nation of Mauritius.

Related to this, Adani in a media statement said, "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."

The port-to-power conglomerate revealed that 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 Hon'ble 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," Adani said.

Further, the conglomerate added, "These FPIs are already part of the investigation by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). 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."

OCCRP specifically pointed out two cases --- representing Adani stock holdings that at one point reached $430 million. It alleged that the mysterious investors turned out to have widely reported ties to the group's majority shareholders, the Adani family. The two names that once again popped up among these investors were Nasser Ali Shaban Ahli and Chang Chung-Ling, who OCCRP alleges have longtime business ties to the family and have also served as directors and shareholders in Adani Group companies and companies associated with one of the family's senior members, Vinod Adani.

However, Adani did not respond to these names in its media statement. Nevertheless, the Group said, "It is unfortunate that these publications, which sent us queries, chose not to carry our response in full."

Overall, Adani categorically rejected OCCRP's report, calling it "recycled allegations".

Adani said, "These news reports appear to be yet another concerted bid by Soros-funded interests supported by a section of the foreign media to revive the meritless Hindenburg report. In fact, this was anticipated, as was reported by the media last week."

Furthermore, Adani said, "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 Hon'ble Supreme Court and SEBI are overseeing these matters, it is vital to respect the ongoing regulatory process."

Lastly, Adani added, "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."

Gautam Adani's conglomerate came under the radar of the Supreme Court after Hindburg's staggering report on the group with various allegations. The short seller's report resulted in one of the most breathtaking market routs to the tune of more than $100 billion, and hence probe reports by Indian authorities.

Currently, the Adani-Hindenburg is pending for Supreme Court verdict. The date of the next hearing is yet to be known.