accuses US short seller of manipulation
The Adani Group has condemned the latest allegations by Hindenburg Research as “malicious, mischievous, and manipulative” distortions of publicly available information. According to a spokesperson, the allegations are designed to reach pre-determined conclusions for “personal profiteering with a blatant disregard for facts and the law.” This statement came on Sunday, shortly after the U.S.-based short seller released new claims against the conglomerate.
“We completely reject these allegations against the Adani Group, which are a recycling of discredited claims that have been thoroughly investigated, proven to be baseless, and already dismissed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in January 2024,” the Adani Group spokesperson informed stock exchanges in a filing dated August 11.
The Adani Group reiterated that its overseas holding structure is “fully transparent,” with all relevant details regularly disclosed in numerous public documents.
The spokesperson stated that the Adani Group has “absolutely no commercial relationship with the individuals or matters mentioned in this calculated deliberate effort to malign our standing.”
“We remain steadfastly committed to transparency and compliance with all legal and regulatory requirements,” the brief statement by the Adani Group spokesperson concluded.
Earlier in the day, shortly after Hindenburg Research alleged on August 10 that SEBI Chairperson Madhabi Buch and her husband had stakes in “both the obscure offshore entities used in the Adani money siphoning scandal,” Buch and her husband issued a joint statement rejecting the allegations.
Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband accused Hindenburg Research, against whom SEBI has taken enforcement action, of character assassination.
In the joint statement released to the media, they said, “Our life and finances are an open book. All disclosures as required have already been furnished to SEBI over the years. We have no hesitation in disclosing any and all financial documents, including those that relate to the period when we were strictly private citizens, to any and every authority that may seek them. It is unfortunate that Hindenburg Research, against whom SEBI has taken enforcement action and issued a show-cause notice, has chosen to attempt character assassination in response to the same.”
Earlier on Saturday, the U.S. short seller Hindenburg alleged, “We had previously noted Adani’s total confidence in continuing to operate without the risk of serious regulatory intervention, suggesting that this may be explained through Adani’s relationship with SEBI Chairperson, Madhabi Buch.”
“What we hadn’t realized: the current SEBI Chairperson and her husband, Dhaval Buch, had hidden stakes in the exact same obscure offshore Bermuda and Mauritius funds, found in the same complex nested structure, used by Vinod Adani,” the report by the U.S. hedge firm stated.
Hindenburg Research claimed it made the new allegations based on documents provided by a whistleblower and investigations carried out by other entities.
In January 2023, Hindenburg published a report accusing the Adani Group of financial irregularities, leading to a significant drop in the company’s stock price. The group, at that time, had dismissed these claims.
The Hindenburg report alleged stock manipulation and fraud by the conglomerate. The case relates to the allegations in a report by Hindenburg Research that Adani had inflated its share prices. After these allegations were published, there was a sharp fall in the shares of various Adani Group companies’ stocks.
In January 2024, the Supreme Court refused to transfer the probe into the allegations of stock price manipulation by the Adani Group to a Special Investigation Team (SIT) and directed the market regulator SEBI to complete its probe into two pending cases within three months. Earlier this year, the Supreme Court also dismissed a plea seeking to review the verdict that had sought an investigation by the market watchdog SEBI in the Adani-Hindenburg case.