US investment research firm Hindenburg on Saturday claimed that Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch had a stake in obscure offshore entities used in the Adani money siphoning scandal.
“It has been nearly 18 months since our original report on the Adani Group presented overwhelming evidence that the Indian conglomerate was operating ‘the largest con in corporate history’. Our report exposed a web of offshore, primarily Mauritius-based shell entities used for suspected billions of dollars of undisclosed related party transactions, undisclosed investment, and stock manipulation. Since then, despite the evidence, along with over 40 independent media investigations corroborating and expanding on our original work, Indian securities regulator SEBI has taken no public action against the Adani Group. Instead, on June 27, 2024, SEBI sent us an apparent ‘show cause’ notice. It did not allege any factual errors in our 106-page analysis, but instead claimed the disclosure around our short position—which we disclosed repeatedly—was deficient, arguing that we should have provided even more robust disclosure,” Hindenburg stated in a report published on its website.
Earlier, the firm had posted a cryptic message hinting at a possible new India-centric report, over a year after it published allegations against the Adani group of companies for insider trading and other violations in the stock market.
“Something big soon India,” said the post on the X social media account of Hindenburg Research.
Something big soon India
— Hindenburg Research (@HindenburgRes) August 10, 2024
In January 2023, Hindenburg published a report accusing the Adani Group of financial irregularities, leading to a significant drop in the company’s stock price. The group at the time had dismissed these claims.
(With inputs from ANI)