Recently, the Supreme Court of India rejected demands to establish a new panel to look into fraud claims against billionaire Gautam Adani’s firms filed by a US investment research firm.
The BBC reports that in January of last year, Hindenburg Research accused Adani’s company of “brazen” accounting fraud and stock manipulation, leading to a court committee in charge of supervising an inquiry by India’s market regulator in March.
But in May, the panel said it had “drawn a blank,” and the Indian high court has asked the agency to finish its probe in three months.
Adani, who has consistently denied any misconduct and referred to the report as “malicious,” declared that “truth had prevailed” in response to the decision.
Petitioners asserted that the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), India’s market watchdog, was not doing its job properly and that several members of the court-appointed panel investigating the claims had a “conflict of interest”.
Their appeal was denied by Chief Justice Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud, who said that there were “no grounds” to refer the investigation to a special panel and directed Sebi to complete it as soon as feasible.
“Only extraordinary situations may be used to transfer an investigation. Without strong arguments, such powers cannot be used “said the speaker.
The members of the court-appointed panel were deemed not to have a conflict of interest, he continued, and newspaper articles and independent investigations cannot be used as solid proof to refute Sebi’s conclusion.
Adani was charged by Hindenburg with “pulling the largest con in corporate history” since the company has businesses in the Caribbean and Mauritius, offshore tax havens.
According to the research, Adani enterprises are financially vulnerable as a group because to their “substantial debt.”
The accusations leveled against Adani Group caused a market collapse in India, wiping out over $100 billion in market value from their respective businesses. But before Wednesday’s decision, their stocks had recovered and seen a price boost.
