The Adani Group has rejected the latest report by US-based short-seller Hindenburg Research as “recycled claims” that were earlier “proven baseless and dismissed by the Supreme Court”. The conglomerate said the allegations were aimed at personal profiteering that disregarded facts and the law.

“For a discredited short-seller under the scanner for several violations of Indian securities laws, Hindenburg’s allegations are no more than red herrings thrown by a desperate entity with total contempt for Indian laws,” the group said in an exchange filing.

The statement was referring to the show-cause notice sent by markets regulator SEBI last month to Hindenburg and its sole beneficial owner Nathan Anderson.

In July, the Securities Exchange Board of India had flagged violations by Hindenburg and Anderson under the SEBI Act, SEBI’s Prevention of Fraudulent and Unfair Trade Practices regulations, and SEBI’s Code of Conduct for Research Analyst regulations.

Full Statement by Adani Group

Hindenburg Report – A Red Herring

The latest allegations by Hindenburg are malicious, mischievous and manipulative selections of publicly available information to arrive at pre-determined conclusions for personal profiteering with wanton disregard for facts and the law. 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 March 2023.

It is reiterated that our overseas holding structure is fully transparent, with all relevant details disclosed regularly in numerous public documents. Furthermore, Anil Ahuja was a nominee director of 3i investment fund in Adani Power (2007-2008) and, later, a director of Adani Enterprises until 2017.

The Adani Group has absolutely no commercial relationship with the individuals or matters mentioned in this calculated deliberate effort to malign our standing. We remain steadfastly committed to transparency and compliance with all legal and regulatory requirements.

For a discredited short-seller under the scanner for several violations of Indian securities laws, Hindenburg’s allegations are no more than red herrings thrown by a desperate entity with total contempt for Indian laws.

– Spokesperson, Adani Group

The statement came after the chief of markets regulator SEBI denied the report and called it an attempt at “character assassination”.

SEBI chairman Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband Dhaval Buch, in a statement, called the report an
attempted “character assassination” in response to the SEBI’s July action against the short-seller.

SEBI chief’s full statement:

In the context of allegations made in the Hindenburg Report dated August 10,2024 against us, we would like to state that we strongly deny the baseless allegations and insinuations made in the report. The same are devoid of any truth. Our life and finances are an open book.  All disclosures as required have already been furnished to SEBI over the years. We have no hesitation in disclosing any and all financial documents, including those that relate to the period when we were strictly private citizens, to any and every authority that may seek them. Further, in the interest of complete transparency, we would be issuing a detailed statement in due course.

It is unfortunate that Hindenburg Research against whom SEBI has taken an Enforcement action and issued a show cause notice has chosen to attempt character assassination in response to the same.   

Madhabi Puri Buch
Dhaval Buch

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

Before she resigned as Bangladesh Prime Minister and fled her Dhaka residence, Sheikh Hasina wanted to address the nation, especially the protesters whose agitation forced her to quit the top job. That speech was never delivered as the protesters reached her doorstep and the country’s top security officers advised to leave at the earliest.

Big Charge Against US

Now in India, the 76-year-old has spoken to her close associates about the undelivered speech, accessed by NDTV. In the letter, Sheikh Hasina has accused the US for plotting a regime change in the country and would have said this in her speech if she got a chance.

“I resigned so that I did not have to see the procession of dead bodies. They wanted to come to power over the dead bodies of students, but I did not allow it. I resigned from premiership. I could have remained in power if I had surrendered the sovereignty of Saint Martin Island and allowed America to hold sway over the Bay of Bengal. I beseech to the people of my land, please do not be manipulated by radicals,” her undelivered speech says.

The Saint Martin island has an area of just 3 square kilometres and is located in the northeastern part of Bay of Bengal. It is the southernmost part of Bangladesh.

“Maybe, if I had stayed in the country, more lives would have been lost. I have removed myself. You were my strength, you did not want me, so I have left,” it adds. 

In her message to her party members, she has said Awami League has always bounced back. “Don’t lose hope. I will return soon. I have lost but the people of Bangladesh have won, the people for whom my father, my family died,” the speech adds. 

The Awami League leader had to resign and flee the country amid violent protests by students that started as an agitation against reservation and snowballed into a stand-off with the Sheikh Hasina government. Over 400 protesters were killed as the veteran leader tried to crush the protests.

Hasina Clarifies Razakar Remark

“If I had remained in the country, more lives would have been lost more resources would have been destroyed. I made the extremely difficult decision to exit. I became your leader because you chose me, you were my strength,” the undelivered speech says.

It adds that she is pained by the targeting of Awami League leaders and that she “will return soon”. “Awami League has stood up again and again. I shall forever pray for the future of Bangladesh.”

She also clarified that she never called the protesting students Razakars.

In one of the statements during the protests, Sheikh Hasina had said, “If not the grandchildren of the freedom fighters, then who will get quota benefits? The grandchildren of the ‘Razakars’?” The word, used to refer to a paramilitary force recruited by the Pakistani army during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, sparked a massive backlash and the protests intensified. In her undelivered address to the nation, the Awami League leader has said, “I have never called you Razakars. Rather my words were distorted to incite you. I request you to watch the full video.”

Hasina’s Rocky Ties With US

Relations between the US and Bangladesh had nosedived during Sheikh Hasina’s term so much so that Washington DC had said the January elections in which Awami League returned to power were not free or fair.

Months before her exit, Sheikh Hasina had claimed that “conspiracies” were being hatched to topple her government and alleged a “white man’s” plot to carve a new “Christian country” out of Bangladesh and Myanmar. “If I allowed a certain country to build an airbase in Bangladesh, then I would have had no problem,” she had said in May.

Following her resignation and escape, the US said, “The United States has long called for respecting democratic rights in Bangladesh, and we urge that the interim government formation be democratic and inclusive.” Washington DC also said that the US greatly values its relationship with the people of Bangladesh.

Earlier, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller had condemned the violence against protesters. “We condemn any violence against peaceful protesters. We’ve been watching this matter very closely, both from our embassy and officials here in Washington. (We) have been monitoring the protests, have seen the reports of people dying, being killed in the protests. And we again, call on the government to uphold individual’s rights to protest peacefully,” he had said.

What’s Happening In Bangladesh

With Sheikh Hasina gone, an interim government under Nobel peace prize winner and Grameen Bank founder Muhammad Yunus has taken charge. Amid reports of attacks on minorities, he has asked students leading the protests to ensure that they their efforts are sabotaged.

“There are many standing by to make your efforts futile. Don’t fail this time,” he said, urging them to protect Hindu, Christian, and Buddhist families from harm. “Are they not the people of this country? You have been able to save the country; can’t you save some families?…You must say – no one can harm them. They are my brothers; we fought together, and we will stay together,” he has said.

In a major development, Bangladesh’s Chief Justice Obaidul Hassan and five other top judges on Saturday were forced to resign amid massive student protests demanding a revamp of the judiciary.

Several other top officials, including Dhaka University Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr Maksud Kamal, have also quit after protests.