Adani share prices fall following reports of alleged share price manipulation 

Shares of the Adani Group dropped on Thursday after a report published by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) alleged share price manipulation by individuals associated with the promoters.

The overall market value of the Adani Group stood at around $132 billion on Wednesday, before dropping to nearly $128 billion on Thursday.

Barring the shares of ACC, all stocks of the Adani Group ended in the red, falling up to 4 per cent. Shares of Adani Green fell 4.39 per cent, followed by those of Adani Enterprises - the flagship company of the group. Shares of Adani Energy Solutions and Adani Ports ended over 3 per cent lower.

The Adani Group denied the accusations and referred to them as "mischievous and malicious" in a statement.

In a report published on Thursday, the OCCRP, a global network of investigative journalists, saidthat two men -- Nasser Ali Shaban Ahli and Chang Chung-Ling --with close ties to the Adani familyspentyears trading millions of dollars' worth of Adani Group stocks.

Records accessed by the OCCRP also revealed that a business controlled by a senior member of the Adani family sent instructions to the investment funds they used to trade in Adani Group shares.

Referring to the January report by US-based Hindenburg Research,which had accused the Indian conglomerate of corporate fraud and share price manipulation, the Adani Group called the news reports as another concerted bid to "revive the meritless Hindenburg report".

"These claims are based on closed cases from a decade ago when the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) probed allegations of over invoicing, transfer of funds abroad, related party transactions and investments through FPIs (foreign portfolio investors)," the Adani Group maintained.

The conglomerate added that the Supreme Court of India’s decision in its favor had brought the case to a conclusion in March 2023. The group claimed that there was “no evidence of any breach of the Minimum Public Shareholding (MPS) requirements or manipulation of stock prices".

“We have complete faith in the due process of law and remain confident of the quality of our disclosures and corporate governance standards. In light of these facts, the timing of these news reports is suspicious, mischievous and malicious - and we reject these reports in their entirety,” the Adani Group said.

What does the OCCRP report say?

Documents obtained by OCCRP's allege that hundreds of millions of dollars were invested through mysterious investment funds located in Mauritius in publicly-traded Adani Group stocks.

"In at least two cases, representing Adani stock holdings that at one point reached $430 million, the mysterious investors turn out to have widely reported ties to the group’s majority shareholders, the Adani family,"the OCCRP claimedin its report.

The documents revealed that two men --Nasser Ali Shaban Ahli and Chang Chung-Ling-- spent years buying and selling Adani stocks through "opaque" Mauritius funds that concealed their involvement and helped them earn large profits. Additionally, the documents showedthat the management firm in charge of their investments paid a Vinod Adani-owned firm for investment advice.

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