A SOFT TARGET?

Investigators probing stock market-related matters warn of another Hindenburg-like attack on Adani Group by an entity linked to notorious shortseller George Soros

- Palak Shah

The group suffered a major setback after shortseller Hindenberg accused it of pumping up its stock prices in a report

GAUTAM ADANI, Chairperson, Adani Group

POLITICS AND BUSINESS GO hand in hand. Globally, business houses perceived to be close to the ruling dispensation or the prominent political parties are often highly vulnerable, especially when elections are around the corner. In India, Reliance Industries in the 1980s and 90s was a soft target of the global cabal and the local media. Currently, it is the Adani Group. More than Adani, Hindenburg Research now is a household name in India since it managed to trigger a $125-billion stock rout with mere allegations. Such popularity will undoubtedly attract clones.

Sources say that agencies in India involved with stock market-related investigations have learned that an organisation known as Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), which is infamous for its links to notorious stock market short-seller George Soros, was planning a series of reports on the Adani Group.

Time is of the essence for short-sellers in the stock market, and Hindenburg claimed that it had shorted Adani group-linked instruments in the overseas market before it published its report. Hindenburg had published its report just when Adani's mega follow-on public offer worth more than Rs 20,000 crore (over $3 billion) was to open. Similarly, OCCRP's report too is being planned when the Supreme Court will be taking cognizance of Adani-related probe by market regulator SEBI.

The OCCRP Backers