Concerted bid by George Soros-funded interests: Adani Group rejects OCCRP report

Ahmedabad: The Adani Group has categorically rejected the allegations levelled by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) terming the allegations as 'recyled'.

In a statement, the Indian conglomerate said," We categorically reject these recycled allegations. 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."

OCCRP report earlier alleged that two men who it claimed “secretly invested” in the conglomerate turn out to have “close ties to its majority owners”, the Adani family, raising questions about violations of Indian law.

OCCRP – as per the information on its website – is “an investigative reporting platform formed by 24 non-profit investigative centres”, spread across Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America.

“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 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 Group said, rejecting OCCRP’s claims.

"These foreign portfolio investors are already part of the investigation by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). As per the Expert Committee appointed by the Supreme Court, there is no evidence of any breach of the Minimum Public Shareholding (MPS) requirements or manipulation of stock prices", the statement added.

“It is unfortunate that these publications, which sent us queries, chose not to carry our response in full.”

These attempts are aimed at generating profits by driving down our stock prices and these short sellers are under investigation by various authorities, it added. “As the Hon’ble Supreme Court and SEBI are overseeing these matters, it is vital to respect the ongoing regulatory process.”

“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,” the Adani Group statement concludes.

Notably, an American short seller Hindenburg Group had launched an attack on Adani Group in January this year through a report that allegedly claimed accounting fraud, stock price manipulation and improper use of tax havens.

Post the Hindenburg report, the group had erased close to USD 150 billion in its market value. Adani Group has been denying all allegations since the beginning of the controversy. The Adani Group had then attacked Hindenburg as "an unethical short seller", stating that the report by the New York-based entity was "nothing but a lie". A short-seller in the securities market books gains from the subsequent reduction in the prices of shares.