'Preposterous': Adani Group junks Hindenburg's latest allegations about $310 mn frozen Swiss bank funds

Gautam Adani-led Adani group has denied the latest allegations made by the U.S.-based short seller Hindenburg Research, which claimed that Swiss authorities have frozen assets worth $310 million across the company's Swiss bank accounts. The statement from Adani comes after Hindenburg's post on X on Thursday, which alleged these funds had been frozen as part of a "money laundering and securities forgery probe" into the Adani group, dating back as early as 2021.

The conglomerate, against which Hindenburg has released two big adverse reports since January 2023, said the group has "no involvement" in any Swiss court. "We unequivocally reject and deny the baseless allegations presented. The Adani Group has no involvement in any Swiss court proceedings, nor have any of our company accounts been subject to sequestration by any authority. Furthermore, even in the alleged order, the Swiss court has neither mentioned our group companies nor have we received any requests for clarification or information from any such authority or regulatory body. We reiterate that our overseas holding structure is transparent, fully disclosed, and compliant with all relevant laws."

The Adani group adds these allegations are "clearly preposterous, irrational, and absurd". "We have no hesitation in stating that this is yet another orchestrated and egregious attempt by the same cohorts acting in unison to inflict irreversible damage on our group's reputation and market value." The Adani Group remains committed to "transparency and compliance", the company says. "We strongly condemn this effort."

Hindenburg, meanwhile, said prosecutors in the Swiss court "detailed how an Adani frontman invested in opaque BVI/Mauritius & Bermuda funds that almost exclusively owned Adani stocks, according to newly released Swiss criminal court records reported by Swiss media outlet."

It also shared a report by a Swiss media platform, Gotham City, which said the Federal Criminal Court (FCC) revealed the Geneva Public Prosecutor's Office was investigating alleged wrongdoing by the Indian conglomerate Adani well before activist investors from Hindenburg Research made the first accusations. "More than $310 million belonging to an alleged frontman for billionaire Gautam Adani is sequestered in five Swiss banks. The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG) took over the investigation after the case was revealed in the press..."

In the past, too, Hindenburg had released reports -- one on January 24, 2023, and another in August this year -- alleging stock manipulation and fraud by the group, and a conflict of interest on the part of India's capital markets regulator SEBI. SEBI is probing the Adani group in the Hindenburg case. The Supreme Court in January 2024 had refused to transfer the probe being carried out by SEBI to a separate special investigation team (SIT), saying the "power of this court to enter the regulatory framework of SEBI is limited". The SC also said there was no "ground" to transfer the case from SEBI to an SIT.

In August, Hindenburg alleged that despite the evidence, with over 40 independent media investigations in the case, the Indian securities regulator had taken "no public action" against the Adani Group. Hindenburg also linked SEBI chief Madhabi Puri Buch to Adani, accusing her and her husband Dhaval Buch of having hidden stakes in the "offshore Bermuda and Mauritius funds", allegedly found in the same complex nested structure used by Gautam Adani's brother Vinod Adani. The SEBI has termed these allegations "baseless" and called it "character assassination".