Mauritius based opaque funds invested in Adani stocks, alleges OCCRP

The Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project has released a report alleging that millions of dollars were invested in some publicly traded Adani stocks via opaque Mauritius funds. The report mentioned that these Funds were invested by close aides of the promoters of the company that happens to be the Adani family.

The report cites reviewing various files including files from multiple tax havens, bank records, and internal Adani Group emails and has found at least two cases where the investors bought and sold Adani stock through offshore structures.

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OCCRP names two Mauritius based investors - Nasser Ali Shaban Ahli and Chang Chung-Ling who have longtime business ties to the Adani family. The report also mentions that they have also served as directors and shareholders in Adani Group companies and companies associated with one of the family’s senior members, Vinod Adani.

The OCCRP alleges that through the Mauritius funds, they spent years buying and selling Adani stock through offshore structures that obscured their involvement — and made considerable profits in the process.

The report further adds that it has to be ascertained wheather Ahli and Chung-Ling acted on behalf of the promoters to prove that there has been a violation of the laws. If so, it would mean that insiders altogether owned more than the 75% allowed by law in Adani stake.

Meanwhile, Adani Group spokesperson has told OCCRP that he Mauritius funds investigated by reporters had already been named in the Hindenburg report. The Spokesperson further added that all the Adani Group’s publicly listed entities are in compliance with all applicable laws including the regulation relating to public share holdings.

“In light of these facts,these allegations are not only baseless and unsubstantiated but are rehashed from Hindenburg’s allegations. Further, it is categorically stated that all the Adani Group’s publicly listed entities are in compliance with all applicable laws including the regulation relating to public share holdings”, Adani Spokesperson wrote to OCCRP.

The OCCRP article comes after U.S.-based short-seller Hindenburg Research in January accused Adani Group of improper business dealings, including the use of offshore entities in tax havens such as Mauritius from where it said certain offshore funds "surreptitiously" owned stock in Adani's listed firms.

Adani group had called the Hindenburg's claims misleading and without evidence and said it always complied with laws.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has postponed the hearing in the Adani-Hindenburg case while SEBI had submitted its status report on the investigation on August 25