Hindenbrg: Fraud cannot be obfuscated by nationalism

PTI

New Delhi: US short seller Hindenburg Research has rejected Adani Group's charge that its report was an attack on India, saying a "fraud" cannot be obfuscated by nationalism or a bloated response that ignored response to key allegations.

Commenting on the 413- page response Adani Group released late on Sunday evening in response to its report, Hindenburg said it believed India was a vibrant democracy and an emerging superpower with an exciting future and it was Adani Group which was holding it back through "systematic loot".

Hindenburg stood by its last week's report that said its two-year investigation found Adani Group "engaged in a brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme over the course of decades". Hindenburg said the response by the conglomerate run by Asia's richest man Gautam Adani "opened with the sensationalistic claim that we are the 'Madoffs of Manhattan'.

"Adani also claimed we have committed a "flagrant breach of applicable securities and foreign exchange laws." "Despite Adani's failure to identify any such laws, this is another serious accusation that we categorically deny," it said.

Adani Group had on Sunday evening likened the damning allegations levied by Hindenburg to a "calculated attack" on India, its institutions and growth story, saying the allegations are "nothing but a lie". It said the report was driven by "an ulterior motive" to "create a false market" to allow the US firm make financial gains by dragging stock prices down.

The document is "a malicious combination of selective misinformation and concealed facts relating to baseless and discredited allegations." "This is rife with conflict of interest and intended to create a false market in securities to enable Hindenburg, an admitted short seller, to book massive financial gain through wrongful means.''