Shares of Adani Group companies were under pressure on Thursday, declining up to 5 percent on the back of new allegations that Adani family's partners used opaque funds via Mauritius to invest in its own group stocks.
The Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) in an article on Thursday alleged that millions of dollars were invested in some publicly traded stocks of India's Adani Group via opaque Mauritius funds that obscured the involvement of alleged business partners of the Adani family. The non-profit media organisation also reported that it had found two cases in which investors bought and sold Adani stock through such offshore structures citing a review of files from multiple tax havens and internal Adani Group emails.
All Adani Group stocks were in the red post the report, denting the group market capitalisation by over ₹35,500 crore. Adani Energy Solutions, Adani Power, Adani Green Energy, Adani Enterprises, Adani Total Gas, Adani Ports, Ambuja Cements, Adani Wilmar and ACC were down between 2 and 5 percent in intra-day trade today.
However, the Adani group categorically rejected the "recycled allegations" of the non-profit media organisation and said the 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. It also stated that these are attempts at generating profits by driving down the group's stock prices, further adding that 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, the group 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. 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 informed in the statement.
It further stated that in light of these facts, the timing of these news reports is suspicious, mischievous and malicious.
The OCCRP article comes after US based short-seller Hindenburg Research in January accused Adani Group of improper business dealings, including the use of offshore entities in tax havens.