Abhitesh
Two people who know about the situation say that India’s market regulator is looking into the Adani Group’s ties to a fund based in the British Virgin Islands to see if there have been any violations of share holding rules.
Sources say the name of the fund is Gulf Asia Trade & Investment. According to a website check last month, it is owned by Nasser Ali Shaban Ahli, a businessman from Dubai. However, the website has since been taken down.
Based on information the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) gave to Reuters, the fund has put money into a number of publicly traded Adani companies.
The investigation is part of the Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (SEBI) larger investigation into the Indian conglomerate. It comes after a report in January by short-seller Hindenburg Research that said offshore shell companies “secretly” owned stock in Adani listed companies, which raised governance issues.
They want to know if Gulf Asia’s ties to the Adani Group are strong enough that it would be seen as working “in concert” with major Adani shareholders, according to sources who did not want to be named because the investigations are ongoing and private.
This part of the SEBI probe has not been talked about before.
When Reuters called the Adani Group, they wouldn’t say anything about the SEBI investigation or their possible ties to the fund.
The group has said in the past that it denies OCCRP’s claims that business partners used “opaque use” of funds to invest in its publicly traded companies. Hindenburg also made claims that it wasn’t true; it said that all transactions with companies that could be considered related parties had been fully disclosed.
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SEBI and Gulf Asia did not answer when asked for comments. Reuters couldn’t get in touch with Ahli. His main financial services company, Al Jawda Trade and Services, which is based in the United Arab Emirates, did not answer emails or calls.
