Adani confident of being absolved in fraud investigation by India’s stock market regulator
New Delhi, Jul 18 (EFE).- Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, accused of stock market fraud, was confident on Tuesday of his innocence as a committee of experts formed by the Supreme Court to investigate the case found no evidence of manipulation in its preliminary report.
“While SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) is still to submit its report, we remain confident of our governance and disclosure standards,” said Adani at the annual general meeting of Adani Enterprises.
The market regulator has until Aug.14 to submit a report to the Supreme Court to corroborate allegations that the billionaire conglomerate manipulated the price of its shares to increase investor confidence.
The US investor investigation group Hindenburg Research on Jan.25 claimed in a report that Adani added most of its fortune through the manipulation of share prices of the seven key companies of the group, which increased by an average of 819 percent in less than three years.
This accusation led to the collapse of the shares of the group’s major companies, including its flagship company, Adani Enterprises.
However, the committee’s investigation found no evidence of irregularities in the group’s operations after two months of investigations, the stock exchange regulator told the Supreme Court in May, when it asked for more time to submit its report.
“The Expert Committee did not find any regulatory failure. The Committee’s Report not only observed that the mitigating measures undertaken by your company helped rebuild confidence but also cited that there were credible charges of targeted destabilization of the Indian markets,” Adani said Tuesday.
“It is worth noting that even during this crisis – not only did we raise several billions from international investors – but also that – no credit agency – in India or abroad – cut any of our ratings. This is the strongest validation of the belief that the investors have in your company’s governance and capital allocation practices,” the billionaire added at the company meeting.
Adani’s fortune amounts to $51.9 billion, according to Forbes magazine, occupying the 24th position in the magazine’s list of the richest people on the planet.
The Indian businessman was ranked third on the Forbes list just before the Hindenburg report was published. EFE
hbc/sc
