The Indian-based Adani Group is facing difficulties as a recent report indicates their involvement in using undisclosed funds to violate regulations and manipulate stock values.
Report claims that the group spent millions of dollars buying stocks in its own companies using offshore methods.
It says that two people who invest for themselves supposedly bought and sold the stocks for the group.
The Adani Group dismissed the claims, saying they were baseless.
The report was published on Thursday by a group called the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), which is made up of journalists who investigate issues around the world. The Guardian and Financial Times gave papers and wrote stories about them.
The Adani Group does many different things in India and other places. They trade commodities, run airports and ports, provide utilities like electricity and water, and work with renewable energy. 1Gautam Adani, a billionaire, is the leader of this organization. 2Gautam Adani, who is very rich, is in charge of this group. There are 24 people on the Forbes real-time billionaires list.
People believe Mr Adani is friends with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Many opposition politicians say he has gained advantages because of his friendship with Modi, but he denies these allegations.
Earlier this year, the businessman got involved in a big scandal. Hindenburg Research, a US company that bets on stocks losing value, accused his group of dishonestly manipulating the stock market and committing fraud with accounting. Hindenburg also claimed that the group was using companies from other countries and fake companies to invest money in its own stocks, which made the stock prices go up.
The group said the claims were not true and meant to harm them, but their shares lost a lot of value in the stock market and they had to cancel a plan to sell more shares. A group chosen by India’s highest court is currently overseeing an investigation by the country’s market regulator into the accusations.
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According to the OCCRP report, two investors have been trading a large amount of Adani Group stock for many years. The two men are closely connected to the Adani family and have been in charge of and own part of companies linked to the group.
The BBC has not looked into the claims themselves.
OCCRP claimed that there was no proof that the money they used for their investments came from the Adani family.
However, they also found evidence indicating that their trading in Adani stock was planned together with the family, based on the reports and documents reviewed by their journalists.
OCCRP said that whether this arrangement is against the law depends on if Ahli and Chang should be seen as acting for Adani ‘promoters’, which means the majority owners of a business in India.
MrAhli and Mr. Chang did not respond publicly right away, but the Adani Group expressed skepticism about the timing of the news report, describing it as suspicious and malicious.
“We believe in the fair legal system and trust that our disclosures and corporate governance standards are of high quality,” the statement said.
The value of Adani Enterprises’ shares, the main company of the group, decreased by 2. 82% on the BSE index.