Hindenburg-Adani saga: One and half years of allegations, investigations and new accusations

New Delhi [India] August 12 (ANI): Just when the Adani-Hindenburg saga was about to end with SEBI investigating the 24th and final case, US short seller Hindenburg has published fresh allegations against the market regulator’s chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband Dhaval Buch of investing in an offshore fund linked with Adani.

While the US short seller made allegations in January 2023 against the Adani group, now it has published allegations against the market regulator for not acting against the conglomerate.

In its report on August 10, Hindenburg has expressed surprise at SEBI’s “lack of interest and not investigating” Adani’s alleged undisclosed web of Mauritius and offshore shell entities.

Here is a timeline of how the Adani-Hindenburg saga has unfolded over the last one-and-a-half years.

On January 24, 2023, Hindenburg Research released a report titled, “Adani Group: How The World’s 3rd Richest Man Is Pulling the Largest Con in Corporate History”. Following the release of the report Adani group stocks tanked by up to 10 per cent.

The report came during the period when Adani Enterprises issued Rs 20,000 crore follow-on public offer (FPO).

The Hindenburg report also alleged that SEBI had launched investigations of transactions done by the Adani Group, but it had gone nowhere after over one and a half years of investigations, due to political pressure.

On January 26, the Adani group responded to the claims, stating they were “baseless” allegations meant to bring down their share price. Shares of Adani Enterprises and other group companies fell substantially. The report led to major losses for the company and the retail investors.

On January 31, 2023, Adani Enterprises FPO was fully subscribed 1.12 times.

In February 2023, a PIL was filed at the Supreme Court asking to set up a committee to investigate the claims of Hindenburg Research.

On March 2, 2023, the Supreme Court asked SEBI to complete the probe of the allegations made in the report within two months to find whether stock price manipulation and other financial irregularities had taken place. The apex court also set up a six-member panel of experts to investigate the matter and report to the court.

On March 8, the six-member expert panel submitted its initial report before the Supreme Court in a sealed cover. The report says there was “no evident pattern of manipulation” in Adani’s group of companies and there was also no regulatory failure.

On May 17, 2023, the court extended the time for SEBI to produce their investigation report on August 14, after SEBI pleaded that it is difficult to complete the probe in two months as getting information from external agencies takes time.

The market regulator on August 14 asked the apex court to grant 15 more days to file its report. Finally, SEBI filed an affidavit on August 25, which says that out of its 24 investigations in the Adani-Hindenburg matter, 22 are final in nature, and 2 are interim. SEBI is awaiting responses from external agencies on two probes. The interim probes had covered 13 overseas entities of Adani’s companies. It has further sought details from five countries on FPI investment.

On November 24, the apex court reserved its verdict after hearing a batch of pleas on the allegations made in the Hindenburg report against Adani.

In January 2024, the Supreme Court dismissed a plea asking for a probe by the CBI into the allegations against the Adani group. The court said that it is the sole jurisdiction of the SEBI to look into matters of market regulation and stock price manipulation. The Supreme Court also asked SEBI to complete its probe in another three months.

Gautam Adani on January 3, 2024, posted on X saying, “The Hon’ble Supreme Court’s judgement shows that: Truth has prevailed. Satyameva Jayate. I am grateful to those who stood by us. Our humble contribution to India’s growth story will continue. Jai Hind.”

By June 2024, Adani group companies’ share prices recovered to their pre-Hindenburg report prices.

On July 2, 2024, Hindenburg revealed that SEBI had slapped a show cause notice to them alleging violation of Indian regulations. It said that SEBI has accused them of sharing its findings on the Adani group with a New York-based hedge fund manager and allowed him to trade with this information.

Hindenburg Research denied SEBI’s claims and said that this was an attempt to silence them for exposing corruption against those with political high-ups.

On August 10, 2024, Hindenburg Research posted a cryptic message on X saying, “Something big soon India”. The same day, they released a report that claimed that SEBI chief Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband Dhaval Buch had investments in an offshore firm used in the Adani money siphoning case. The report also alleged that the SEBI chairperson’s involvement showed a lack of transparency in the market regulator when it came to investigating the Adani group.

The next day on August 11, 2024, SEBI chief Madhabi Buch and her husband released a joint statement, calling the report baseless and saying that their financial records were an open book. In a detailed joint statement issued later in the day by Madhabi Buch and husband Dhaval Buch rejected all allegations of Hindenburg as baseless.

The statement said that investments in the funds were made of their corporate jobs earnings, from salaries, bonuses and ESOPs. Investments in the alleged firm were made because the CIO of the fund Anil Ahuja was Dhaval Buch’s childhood friend and had nothing to do with Adani’s.

Before that alleged fund 360 One Wam also informed the exchanges through a filing that, the fund operated between 2013 and 2019 and they had zero investment in any Adani group companies. It also informed that 90 per cent of the fund was invested in debts.

On August 11, 2024 Adani Group also released an official statement, stating, “We completely reject these allegations against the Adani Group which are a recycling of discredited claims that have been thoroughly investigated, proven to be baseless and already dismissed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in January 2024.”

The day ended with a late evening unusual press release by SEBI asking the investors to be calm and do due diligence before taking a call on their investments.

However, on Monday, August 12, 2024 the US short seller posed new questions for the SEBI Chairperson alleging that her response contained several significant admissions and raised critical new questions.

In a social media post on ‘X’, the US short seller stated that “SEBI Chairperson Madhabi Buch’s response to our report includes several important admissions and raises numerous new critical questions.”

The US short seller also raised concerns about the financial statements of SEBI Chief’s Singapore consulting entities during her tenure at SEBI.

Hindenburg in the fresh allegations also added that whistleblower documents have revealed that Buch used her personal email to conduct business under her husband’s name while serving as a whole-time member of SEBI.