Gautam Adani, a prominent Indian billionaire, sees his conglomerate facing troubling allegations over its business practices. Reports have recently resurfaced claiming that the Adani Group has been involved in intricate and clandestine offshore operations to inflate its market value, based on evidence gathered by a network of investigative journalists.
An investigation by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), which receives funds from various sources such as George Soros’ Open Society Foundations, the US State Department, and the Ford Foundation, has shed light on these allegations, gaining notice from multiple media outlets including The Guardian and the Financial Times.
Following its probe, the Financial Times reported that the revelations draw attention to the relationship between Adani and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and expose "tailor-made investment structures" deployed by a Bermuda-based firm solely used by Adani associates for trading the company's shares. It further reported claims of a systematic approach involving "parallel sets of books and a labyrinth of companies and funds" employed to obscure these transactions.
Meanwhile, The Guardian suggested that Adani associates may have gradually purchased stock in Adani Group through an undisclosed and convoluted operation in Mauritius as the company surged to become a potent business empire in India.
These reports are emerging seven months after Hindenburg Research released a report accusing Adani and his conglomerate of perpetrating "the largest scam in corporate history" and "blatant stock manipulation" that greatly boosted the value of the multinational behemoth.
The Adani Group has fervently hit back at these allegations, branding them as unfounded and a calculated assault on India. However, these charges did lead to a massive drop in the company's value, dramatically eroding roughly half of the founder's wealth within a few weeks.
The company equally staunchly rejected the recent media reports. In their statement, they said, “We categorically reject these recycled allegations. These news reports appear to be yet another coordinated bid by Soros-funded interests supported by sections of the foreign media to revive the meritless Hindenburg report."
On the other hand, the Open Society Foundations responded by emphasizing their pride in supporting OCCRP's independently conducted investigative work and considered these attempts to discredit the OCCRP's work in India as unfounded. The network is funded by more than 40 donors, all of whom accord total editorial control to OCCRP, as asserted by co-founder Drew Sullivan in a recent social media post.
In addition to these controversies, Indian market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has initiated an investigation into the allegations as well as the market activity immediately preceding and following the release of the Hindenburg report.
Reports suggest that SEBI's investigation is almost complete. Adani's team expressed their complete trust in the regulatory process and their confidence in their financial disclosures and corporate governance standards.
Adani, who is known for his close ties to Prime Minister Modi, has faced criticism from opposition lawmaker Rahul Gandhi, who called upon Modi to facilitate an investigation into these allegations. Gandhi criticized Modi's silence on the matter, declaring that these reports affect India's global reputation as a transparent economy and questioned why Adani was allowed to "move a billion dollars to pump up his share price."
