In a stunning claim that he has called a “smoking gun”, senior lawyer Mahesh Jethmalani has alleged that a businessman with Chinese links had commissioned the report by short-seller Hindenburg Research which led to shares of Adani Group companies taking a hit.

Earlier this week, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) had said that foreign portfolio investor Kingdon Capital Management LLC and its entities aided Hindenburg in indirectly participating in Adani Enterprises Ltd. An investigation by the markets regulator also exposed that Kotak Mahindra and Hindenburg conspired together to take short positions in Adani shares.

In a lengthy post on X, Mr Jethmalani said Mark Kingdon, the American businessman behind Kingdon Capital Management LLC, had hired Hindenburg to prepare a report on the Adani Group. Mr Kingdon also approached Kotak’s international investment arm Kotak Mahindra Investments Limited (KMIL) to set up an offshore fund as well as offshore accounts to trade in Adani shares. This led to the creation of the Kotak India Opportunity Fund (KIOF). 

This fund allegedly took short positions in shares of Adani Group Companies through the Mauritius route before the Hindenburg report was made public and nearly $ 40 million for this was given by the Kingdon Master Fund. 

The smoking gun referred to by the senior lawyer was his revelation that Mr Kingdon’s wife Anla Cheng, a Chinese-American who has a large shareholding in the Kingdon Master Fund, is a lobbyist for Chinese interests in the United States. 

“She was the CEO of #SupChina a pro-China media corporate initiative which morphed into an entity called The China Project after a whistleblower accused SupChina of news subversion in China’s interest in a sworn statement before the US Congress,” the lawyer wrote. 

“#TheChinaProject shut down after calls for an investigation into its subversive activities by some US senators including having links with the Chinese Communist Party. The latter clearly has a bone to pick with the Adani group,” he added.

Mr Jethmalani suggested that the actions of Ms Cheng and Mr Kingdon were prompted by the Adani Group thwarting Chinese interests in several parts of the globe, including outbidding Chinese players for the Haifa Port in Israel and for coal projects near Sri Lanka’s Jaffna. 

Key Questions

Having laid out his points, Mr Jethmalani posed three major questions. 

“Who introduced the Kingdons to KMIL, what due diligence was conducted by KMIL regarding the Kingdons and did it participate in the short sell as a principal,” he asked.

The second question was whether all the Indian people, organisations and entities who helped Hindenburg knew about the short-selling plan and whether they benefited from it. Mr Jethmalani specifically mentioned politicians, in an apparent dig at the opposition, which has used the Adani-Hindenburg issue to target the group and the government on several occasions.

The lawyer also asked whether these people and entities knew about the Chinese link. 

‘Misrepresentations’

SEBI, in its show cause notice to Hindenburg Research LLC said the organisation’s report contained misrepresentations and inaccurate statements which built a convenient narrative through selective disclosures and catchy headlines to cause panic in Adani share prices, thereby deflating the prices of the Adani group stocks. 

Hindenburg has claimed that it did not provide research notice to Kingdon before sharing the draft report and Kingdon did not share the trading notice with Hindenburg before the report was shared publicly through mass email.

A Kotak Mahindra International Ltd spokesperson in a statement said KMIL and KIOF “unequivocally state that Hindenburg has never been a client of the firm nor has it ever been an investor in the Fund. The Fund was never aware that Hindenburg was a partner of any of its investors.”

“KMIL has also received a confirmation and declaration from the Fund’s investor that its investments were made as a principal and not on behalf of any other person,” the spokesperson stated.

(Disclaimer: New Delhi Television is a subsidiary of AMG Media Networks Limited, an Adani Group Company.)

The much-deserved appreciation comes as the Mumbai Police personnel faced some anxious moments as there was a stampede-like situation at several places along the route

Britain voted Thursday in a general election that polls predict will hand the opposition Labour party a landslide win and end nearly a decade-and-a-half of Conservative rule.

The first national ballot since Boris Johnson won the Tories a decisive victory in 2019 follows Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s surprise call to hold an election six months earlier than required.

His gamble looks set to backfire spectacularly, with polls throughout the six-week campaign — and for the last two years — pointing to a heavy defeat for his right-wing party.

That would almost certainly put Labour leader Keir Starmer, 61, in Downing Street, as leader of the largest party in parliament.

Centre-left Labour is projected to win its first general election since 2005 by historic proportions, with a flurry of election-eve polls all forecasting its biggest-ever victory.

But Starmer was taking nothing for granted as he urged voters not to stay at home. “Britain’s future is on the ballot,” he said. “But change will only happen if you vote for it.”

‘People are not satisfied’

Voting began at 7:00 am (0600 GMT) in more than 40,000 polling stations across the country, from church halls, community centres and schools to more unusual venues such as pubs and even a ship.

Sunak was among the early birds, casting his ballot at his Richmond and Northallerton constituency in Yorkshire, northern England. Starmer voted around two hours later in his north London seat, shortly before Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey.

Many voters told AFP they were disillusioned but still planned to exercise their democratic right to vote.

“I have no confidence in any party. They are not good enough to run the country,” said Robin Moore, a 60-year-old architect in Rotherhithe in east London.

A 20-year-old university student, who asked to be identified just by her first name Barakot, was more optimistic, however.

“Lots of things are going on, the cost-of-living crisis, being able to buy a house is so hard. It’s the right moment to vote, hopefully to get the right people in” government.

“It’s good for everyone if we see some changes,” she said.

Voting closes at 10:00 pm (2100 GMT). Broadcasters then announce exit polls, which typically provide an accurate picture of how the main parties have performed.

Results from the UK’s 650 constituencies trickle in overnight, with the winning party expected to hit 326 seats — the threshold for a parliamentary majority — as dawn breaks Friday. 

Polls suggest voters will punish the Tories after 14 years of often chaotic rule and could oust a string of government ministers, with talk that even Sunak’s seat might not be safe.

That would make him the first sitting prime minister not to retain his seat in a general election.

“I appreciate people have frustrations with our party,” he conceded on Wednesday. “But tomorrow’s vote… is a vote about the future.”

Endorsements

Sunak, 44, is widely seen as having run a dismal campaign, with anger over his decision to leave D-Day commemorations in France early the standout moment.

In new blows Wednesday, The Sun newspaper switched allegiance to Labour — a key endorsement given the tabloid has backed the winner at every election for several decades.

It follows The Financial Times, The Economist and The Sunday Times as well as traditionally left-leaning papers The Guardian and The Daily Mirror, also endorsing the party.

Meanwhile, three large-scale surveys indicated Labour was on the brink of a record victory, with the Tories set for their worst-ever result and the centrist Liberal Democrats resurgent in third.

YouGov, Focaldata and More in Common all projected Labour would secure at least 430 seats, topping the 418 under Tony Blair in 1997.

The Conservatives could plunge to a record low of less than 127, the trio predicted.

The Lib Dems were tipped to scoop dozens of seats — up from their current tally of 15 — while Nigel Farage’s anti-immigrant Reform UK party was set to win a handful.

YouGov and More in Common both forecast the Brexit figurehead would finally become an MP at the eighth time of asking.

‘Decade of national renewal’

If the predictions are accurate, Sunak will on Friday visit head of state King Charles III to tender his resignation as prime minister. 

Starmer would meet the monarch shortly after to take up his invitation to head the next government — and become prime minister.

The Labour leader would then travel to Downing Street — the office and residence of British leaders — where he would be expected to deliver a speech before making ministerial appointments.

It would cap a remarkable political rise for the former human rights lawyer and chief prosecutor, first elected an MP in 2015.

He has promised a “decade of national renewal” but faces a daunting task revitalising creaking public services and a flatlining economy.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)