Hindenburg row: SC ruling gives SEBI, Adani Group a leg up

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The court has directed the country’s market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), to complete its inquiry into two pending cases within three months. - File photo

NEARLY a year after US-based short-seller Hindenburg Research published a report accusing the Adani Group of manipulating its share prices, the Supreme Court has declined to transfer the probe into the allegations to a special investigation team or the CBI. The court has directed the country’s market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), to complete its inquiry into two pending cases within three months. The SC ruling came on a bunch of petitions seeking a court-monitored investigation or a CBI probe into Hindenburg’s claims.

One of the petitioners had based the case on a report of the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), a global network of investigative journalists. The report had accused the Adani Group of channelling investments into publicly traded stocks via ‘opaque’ funds. Among the OCCRP’s donors is a funding organisation founded by controversial American billionaire George Soros, who had in February last year stated that PM Modi would have to answer questions from investors and parliamentarians about the Adani row. The court has stated that unverified reports by third-party organisations cannot be regarded as conclusive proof.

The SC has reposed faith in SEBI amid the Opposition’s allegation that the regulator has been lackadaisical in conducting its investigation. No less significant is the fact that the Hindenburg and OCCRP reports have failed to dissuade the US government from getting involved in an Adani project through one of its agencies. It was announced in November last year that the US International Development Finance Corporation would invest $553-million in Colombo West International Terminal Pvt Ltd, a consortium of Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone Ltd and two Sri Lankan entities. The onus is on SEBI to complete its probe within the timeline and negate all attempts by its detractors to discredit it.