Adani stocks fall after report alleges family-controlled entities bought own shares

Shares of listed Adani group companies fell up to 2 percent on August 31 morning, a day after the non-profit Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) released new details on allegations that the Adani Family partners had invested millions to buy own group shares through opaque investment funds based in the island nation of Mauritius.

Responding to the allegations, an Adani group representative refuted the claims and said “these allegations are not only baseless and unsubstantiated but are rehashed from Hindenburg’s allegations. Further, it is categorically stated that all the Adani Group’s publicly listed entities are in compliance with all applicable laws including the regulation relating to public share holdings.”

According to the report, Nasser Ali Shaban Ahli and Chang Chung-Ling, are “longtime business ties to the family and have also served as directors and shareholders in Adani Group companies and companies associated with one of the family’s senior members, Vinod Adani”. Vinod is the older brother of Adani group chairperson Gautam Adani.

The report alleges that documents reveal that “considerable profits were made” by buying and selling Adani stock through this offshore agreement that obscured their involvement.

The management company in charge of the “partners” investments also paid a Vinod Adani company to advise them in their investments, the report alleged.

Also read: OCCRP alleges Mauritius-based opaque funds invested millions of dollars in Adani stock

In January 2023, a report by US-based short-seller Hindenburg Research alleged that the Adani Group had “engaged in a brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme over the course of decades”.

Also read: SEBI’s probe faults Adani group on disclosure rules: Report

On August 29, it was reported that an investigation of the Adani group by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) had uncovered violations of rules on disclosures by listed entities and limits on the holdings of offshore funds.

Among the 10 listed Adani group companies are Adani Power, Adani Enterprises, Adani Wilmar, Adani Transmission and Adani Total Green.

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