New Delhi: Congress party, on Tuesday, asked National Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL) and Finance Ministry to break silence over the matter of freezing the accounts of three foreign investor funds holding a sizeable stake in Adani Group companies and to come out with the truth by transferring its investigation to Enforcement Directorate (ED).
While addressing a press conference, Congress spokesperson Gourav Vallabh quoted a news report which had stated that NSDL has frozen the accounts of three foreign funds of Albula Investment Fund, Cresta Fund and APMS Investment Fund. These three funds together own over Rs 43,500 crore worth of shares in four Adani Group companies.
He demanded, "SEBI and NSDL should reveal the nature and background details of these three foreign funds, who are the ultimate beneficial owners of these funds that have greater than 95% of their net worth due to Adani shares only, and what have SEBI and NSDL uncovered about these funds?"
The statement comes a day after shares of Adani Group plunged up to 25 per cent amid reports that the NSDL has frozen accounts of these three funds. However, Adani Group called these reports "blatantly erroneous and misleading".
"Why have these 3 funds not come out with a clarification statement yet on these events? Why is only Adani Enterprises Limited coming out with clarifications and other 3 Adani group companies, where these funds have an investment, have not come out with a statement?" Gourav Vallabh asked.
The Congress leader noted that the aforementioned funds are all registered at the same address in Port Louis, Mauritius and do not have websites. Also, these funds together hold 6.82% in Adani Enterprises, 8.03% in Adani Transmission, 5.92% in Adani Total Gas and 3.58% in Adani Green and they derive more than 95% of their net worth from their investments in the Adani Group companies.
"As per SEBI guidelines, a Foreign Portfolio Investor (FPI) can’t hold more than 10% equity stake in any listed Indian firm. It is important to understand the ultimate beneficial ownership of these funds as these funds have the same address and don’t even have websites that raise suspicion further," he asserted.
The news report has also suggested that there has been a meteoric rise in the share prices of the Adani Group companies in the last 12 months, explaining that in the last 12 months, Adani Transmission shares have gone up by 669%, Adani Total Gas shares have gone up by 349%, Adani Enterprises shares have gone up by 972% and Adani Green has gone up by 254%.
While the two Adani group companies, where these 3 funds do not have investments: Adani Ports and Adani Power, have soared 147% and 295%, respectively, in the last 12 months.
Also read: Adani Group stocks tumble amid reports of NSDL freezing 3 FPI accounts
Vallabh said, "The Congress party demands that SEBI and NSDL come out with a complete disclosure about the nature of these funds, ultimate beneficial ownership of these funds, the findings of their enquiry (if any), what securities these funds hold and why were their accounts frozen?"
"Based on the findings of the news report, we also demand that if SEBI’s ongoing investigation has revealed any irregularities with regards to price manipulation of Adani group stocks, Government of India should transfer the investigation to Enforcement Directorate to investigate the entire matter and come out with the truth for everyone to understand," he added.
