New Delhi: The Adani Group on Thursday outrightly dismissed all claims of the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and termed it ‘recycled allegations’.
Replying to the OCCRP report that accused the conglomerate of using Mauritius funds in its public traded stocks, the Adani Group categorically stated that this was yet another concerted effort by billionaire Soros-funded interests to malign its reputation. It added that the dubious report had the support of foreign media also.
“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,” the Indian conglomerate said in a statement.
Adani Group, with its presence from ports to energy businesses, said that the report was suspicious, mischievous and malicious.
Earlier, the OCCRP report claimed that two people who said they were ‘secretly invested’ in the group were found to have ‘close ties with the majority promoters’ and therefore this was gross violation of business ethos.
OCCRP describes itself, on its website, as “investigative reporting platform formed by 24 non-profit investigative centres”, spread across Europe, Africa, Asia & Latin America.
“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,” Adani Group said while rejecting its claims.
“These foreign portfolio investors are already part of the investigation by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). As per the Expert Committee appointed by the Supreme Court, there is no evidence of any breach of the Minimum Public Shareholding (MPS) requirements or manipulation of stock prices”, it added.
“It is unfortunate that these publications, which sent us queries, chose not to carry our response in full,” it said.
The company also said that these are motivated reports for creating downward movement in Adani Group stocks and then benefiting from it.
Notably, the Adani Group saw huge upheaval in its stocks after a US short seller Hindenburg Research accused the group of manipulating stock prices and carrying an accounting fraud.
Following the report, the Group stocks suffered major rout and witnessed its worst ever fall and saw its market value erased to about $150 billion.
Adani Group had rebutted the baseless charges and called the unwarranted report, an ‘attack on India’.
