New Delhi: Shares of most of the Adani group company ended lower on Thursday after a report from investigative reporting platform OCCRP alleged hundreds of millions of dollars were invested in publicly traded group stocks through Mauritius-based 'opaque' investment funds managed by partners of promoter family of billionaire Gautam Adani. However, the conglomerate denied the charges vehemently.
Nine of the group firms settled in the negative territory while one ended in the green on Thursday. The stock of Adani Green Energy nosedived 4.39 per cent to settle at Rs 928.05 apiece, while shares of flagship firm Adani Enterprises plunged 3.77 per cent to close at Rs 2,418.80 and Ambuja Cements tanked 3.53 per cent to end at Rs 428.50 per piece on the BSE.
Shares of Adani Energy Solutions dipped 3.52 per cent to close at Rs 812.15, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) slipped 3.37 per cent to settle at Rs 791.40, Adani Total Gas declined 2.59 per cent to end at Rs 635.60 on the bourse. In addition, scrip of Adani Wilmar fell 2.56 per cent to close at Rs 359.50, Adani Power at Rs 321.05 and NDTV at Rs 214.60.
Besides, stock of ACC gained 0.47 per cent to end at Rs 2,009.55 per piece on the BSE. Meanwhile, the 30-share BSE Sensex settled 255.84 points or 0.39 per cent lower at 64,831.41 points on Thursday. The fresh allegations by an organisation funded by likes of George Soros and Rockefeller Brothers Fund come months after a US short seller wiped away close to USD 150 billion in value of Adani group stocks with allegations of accounting fraud, stock price manipulation and improper use of tax havens by the ports-to-energy conglomerate run by billionaire Gautam Adani. Adani Group has denied all Hindenburg allegations.
Citing review of files from multiple tax havens and internal Adani Group emails, OCCRP (Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project) said its investigation found at least two cases where the "mysterious" investors bought and sold Adani stock through such offshore structures. The two men, Nasser Ali Shaban Ahli and Chang Chung-Ling, who OCCRP claimed have longtime business ties to the Adani family and have also served as directors and shareholders in Group companies and firms associated with Gautam Adani's elder brother Vinod Adani, "spent years buying and selling Adani stock through offshore structures that obscured their involvement - and made considerable profits in the process."
The documents "show that the management company in charge of their investments paid a Vinod Adani company to advise them in their investment", it alleged. Adani in a statement categorically rejected what it called as "recycled allegations", calling them "yet another concerted bid by Soros-funded interests supported by a section of the foreign media to revive the meritless Hindenburg report".
"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 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," it said. (PTI)
