Gautam Adani- led Adani Group denies allegations of Mauritius-based offshore funding
Adani Group denies new allegations of using opaque investments through Mauritius made by OCCRP. They reject the claims as recycled and without merit
Gautam Adani-led Adani Group has denied fresh allegations labelled by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP). In a fresh set of allegations, OCCRP has labelled charges against Adani group for using ‘opaque investments’ through Mauritius.
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.
"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. 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," said Adani Group.
Adani Group denies these allegations: Read the full media statement here
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.
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.
Notably, 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.
It is unfortunate that these publications, which sent us queries, chose not to carry our response in full.
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.
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.
Adani share fall
Shares of Adani Enterprises, the flagship company of the group, fell 2% after the publication of the report, while Adani Ports, Adani Power, Adani Green , Adani Total Gas, and Adani Wilmar slid between 1%-2%, each.
The OCCRP article comes after U.S.-based short-seller Hindenburg Research accused the Adani Group in January of improper business dealings, including the use of offshore entities in tax havens such as Mauritius.
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.
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Business NewsCompaniesNewsGautam Adani- led Adani Group denies allegations of Mauritius-based offshore funding
First Published:31 Aug 2023, 11:30 AM IST
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