Following suit Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has requested the Supreme Court for 15 more days regarding the case of Adani Group and American short selling firm Hindenburg Research. SEBI told the Supreme Court that it needed time to investigate some brokers. After their investigation, SEBI has said to submit the complete report.
SEBI said in the filing that the investigation is being done in a sustainable manner. SEBI is collecting information from foreign entities to investigate the allegations levelled against Adani Group. SEBI said that it is also contacting the agencies. The investigation into the allegations is going on at a fast pace. After evaluating all these information, the report will be submitted.
SEBI has investigated 17 out of 24 cases in the investigation of allegations levelled against Gautam Adani’s company. SEBI said that out of the remaining seven cases, the investigation in four cases is almost complete and the report prepared in this case is in the process of approval and investigation by the officer. In two other cases, SEBI’s investigation is in the final stages, while in the second case an interim report is being prepared.
Significantly, on January 24, 2023, American short selling firm Hindenburg Research presented a detailed report on Adani Group. In this, many big allegations were made on Adani Group and it was said that Adani had manipulated the shares. Apart from this, allegations were also made regarding the transaction. After these allegations, the market cap of Adani Group fell by more than 100 billion dollar. Shares of group companies fell sharply. Not only this, Gautam Adani went from number 2 to number 36 in the list of the world’s rich.
What happened in Supreme Court on last date?
On July 11, while hearing the Adani Group and Hindenburg case, the Supreme Court had said that SEBI would not be given more time. SEBI will have to file a report by August 14 in any case. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for SEBI, said that the investigation of the matter is going on as fast as possible and efforts will be made to follow the directions of the Supreme Court.
However, while filing his reply in the Supreme Court, advocate Prashant Bhushan had said that the investigating agencies are not helping in the investigation. On this, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had lodged an objection that this is not correct.
The Supreme Court had directed SEBI to make available a soft copy of its affidavit to the petitioners and also upload it on record by ensuring that the soft copy is submitted to the court.
Petitioner’s lawyer Prashant Bhushan said that SEBI distributed it in the media after filing its reply. He also accused the SEBI of sabotaging the investigation of the Adani-Hindenburg case.
What was Adani’s reaction to the Hindenburg report at Company’s AGM
Addressing the 2023 Annual General Meeting on July 18 last month, Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani termed the Hindenburg Research report against the group as a malicious attempt to tarnish its reputation.
Indian billionaire Adani claimed that the short seller’s report was a “specifically targeted misinformation and a combined effort to discredit” produced by parties with “vested interests”. He further claimed that the report was deliberately released just before the upcoming public offering (FPO) of Adani Enterprises to damage the position of the group.
“The report was a confluence of targeted misinformation and defamatory allegations, primarily from the period 2004 to 2015, which were resolved and addressed by the appropriate authorities at that time,” Adani said. They said this publication represents a deliberate and malicious effort aimed at tarnishing the Group’s reputation with the intention of generating financial gain by undermining its stock prices.
“Subsequently, even though the follow-on public offering was fully subscribed, we decided to refund the money to the investors to protect their interests. Despite issuing our strong rebuttals, various vested interests continued to single us out, Adani announced.
In addition, the chairman of the Adani Group had emphasised that the group has successfully raised sufficient capital from international investors, and highlighted the fact that no international credit agency has decided to downgrade the credit rating of any of the group companies and that it has not taken any step.
He had expressed confidence that the group maintains its steadfast commitment to governance and transparency standards, pointing to the findings of an examination by a panel set up by the Supreme Court, which found no lapses in the group’s operations.
Adani affirmed this and concluded, “The Supreme Court Committee report has been instrumental in instilling confidence in our group. We remain unwavering in our belief in our governance and disclosure standards.”
In January this year, a report by a short seller based in the United States was published, alleging involvement of the Adani Group in stock-related matters.