Adani Hindenburg Case: Plea Seeks New Expert Committee From SC; Except 2 Stocks, Rest Of Adani Stocks Dip 1-3%

In a new turn of events, the Adani Hindenburg row is now facing the likelihood of a fresh expert committee to investigate the allegations imposed by the US shortseller on the Indian billionaire Gautam Adani's conglomerate. Except for Adani Total Gas and Adani Transmission, all other Adani listed stocks settled on a bearish note.

On Monday, the port-to-power empire's flagship firm Adani Enterprises settled at Rs 2501.10 apiece down by 1.5%, while Adani Pors ended at Rs 831 apiece, shedding 1.7%. Also, Adani Power dipped by 1.10% to end at Rs 374.80 apiece. While Adani Green Energy and Adani Wilmar were down marginally.

Further, cement stocks Ambuja Cements dived by 1.5%, and ACC fell by over 1%. Media stock NDTV tumbled by 0.8% on BSE.

However, Adani Energy Solutions gained over 1%, while Adani Total Gas inched higher as well.

As per the Law Beat report, a fresh application has been moved before the Supreme Court seeking the constitution of a fresh expert committee to investigate the allegations made against the Adani Group in the Hindenburg Report.

The Supreme Court in March had constituted a three-member expert committee to look into the allegations imposed by Hindenburg on Adani Group. The members were former Justice AM Sapru also consisting of OP Bhat (former Chairman of SBI), retired Justice JP Devadhar, KV Kamath, Nandan Nilakeni, and Somasekharan Sundaresan.

The report said that filed through Advocate Ramesh Kumar Mishra, the instant application has questioned the integrity of three members of the court-appointed committee, namely, OP Bhatt, KV Kamath and Somasekharan Sundaresan.

In the application, it was highlighted that the former chairman of SBI, OP Bhatt is reportedly working currently as the Chairman of Greenko who has a close partnership with Adani Groups to provide energy facilities in the country since March 2022. Hence, this relation stirs a clear conflict of interest which the application cited that should have been pointed out by Bhatt himself.

Not just that Bhatt also came under the lens of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2018 for his role in disbursing loans to once known as 'liquor king' Vijay Mallya. The applicant mentioned that Bhatt held the position of chairman of SBI from 2006 to 2011, also the period when the majority of loans were credited to fugitive Mallya's companies.

Then coming to KV Kamath, who was also booked by the CBI regarding the high-profile nepotism scandal at ICICI Bank. Kamath who served as the MD and chairman of ICICI Bank between 1996 to 2009, was involved in ICICI-Videocon loan fraud that was related to his successor Chanda Kochher who served as MD and CEO from 2009 to 2018.

Finally, in the case of Somashekhar Sundaresan, the applicant reportedly reasoned that he has a lawyer representing Adani before various forums including the SEBI Board.

Hence, in a fresh affidavit that was filed last week, the applicant stated that the current expert committee in the Adani Hindenburg row would fail to inspire confidence among Indian citizens. Hence, it sought the formation of a new expert committee in the biggest scandal of 2023.

In the first week of September, reports also mentioned that the top court was going to consider a fresh status report filed by Sebi on September 15. The move also comes after the recent findings from George Soros-backed Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) after the US short seller Hindenburg shocked the financial market by accusing India's one of the billionaires, Gautam Adani of brazen stock manipulation.

In August, Sebi submitted its final probe report which indicated that a dozen foreign companies were situated in tax-haven countries which was challenging for the investigation. Out of the 24 investigations, Sebi said that 22 of them are final, while 2 are interim which revolves around the offshore dealings.

Sebi explained that since these foreign entities are situated in tax haven jurisdictions, it has become challenging to establish the economic interest of 12 FPI shareholders. Hence, Sebi has sought information from five foreign countries to identify the true beneficiaries behind foreign investors that were dealing with Gautam Adani's group. The regulator also said it would take appropriate action based on the outcome of the investigations.

Later on August 30, exclusive documents obtained by OCCRP stated how hundreds of millions of dollars were invested in publicly traded Adani stock through opaque investment funds based in the island nation of Mauritius.

Hindenburg in a nerve-chilling report on January 24, accused Adani Group of brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme over the course of decades. Adani Group has denied Hindenburg's allegations as well.