Hindenburg-Adani Case: ‘Malicious, mischievous and manipulative’: Adani Group on US short seller’s latest allegations

Adani Group has denounced the latest allegations from Hindenburg Research, terming them as “malicious”, "mischievous," and “manipulative. In a statement issued to stock exchanges, Adani group has rebuffed the latest claims made by the US-based short-seller saying that its overseas holding structure is fully transparent.

The ports-to-power conglomerate led by Gautam Adani, on August 11, rejected the Hindenburg's allegations saying that they were “a recycling of previously discredited accusations that were thoroughly investigated and dismissed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in March 2023.”

Here’s the statement from the Adani Group:

"The latest allegations by Hindenburg are malicious, mischievous and manipulative selections of publicly available information to arrive at pre-determined conclusions for personal profiteering with wanton disregard for facts and the law. 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.

It is reiterated that our overseas holding structure is fully transparent, with all relevant details disclosed regularly in numerous public documents. Furthermore, Anil Ahuja was a nominee director of 3i investment fund in Adani Power (2007-2008) and, later, a director of Adani Enterprises until 2017.

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.

For a discredited short-seller under the scanner for several violations of Indian securities laws, Hindenburg's allegations are no more than red herrings thrown by a desperate entity with total contempt for Indian laws," Adani Group said.

Adani Group’s response follows Hindenburg Research’s report published on August 10, alleging whistleblower documents revealed SEBI Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband Dhaval Buch had investments in offshore funds that were involved in the Adani money siphoning scam.

It also alleged that the capital market regulator Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) was unwilling to act on Hindenburg’s earlier Adani report published in January 2023 because SEBI chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch had investments in offshore funds that had links with the Adani Group.

Sebi chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband Dhaval Buch have denied the allegations, terming them ‘baseless’ and an attempted ‘character assassination’.

“...we would like to state that we strongly deny the baseless allegations and insinuations made in the report. The same are devoid of any truth. Our life and finances are an open book. All disclosures as required have already been furnished to SEBI over the years,” Madhabi and Dhaval Buch said in a statement.

“It is unfortunate that Hindenburg Research against whom SEBI has taken an Enforcement action and issued a show cause notice has chosen to attempt character assassination in response to the same,” they added saying that a detailed statement would be issued in due course.

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