The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on Monday in its application to the Supreme Court said that it is seeking 15 more days to submit final report on the allegations made by US-based short-seller Hindenburg Research against Adani Group. The markets regulator has submitted before the SC that it has completed investigating 17 out of the 24 transactions it had taken up for probe. The SEBI, also sought more information from other regulators and foreign jurisdictions to plan a further course of action.
The SEBI in its filing said, “It has completed the investigation/examination based on the material that could be gathered by it thus far. An interim report has been prepared and approved by the competent authority in accordance with SEBI’s extant practice and procedures. However, it has sought information from agencies and regulators in foreign jurisdictions, etc. and upon receipt of such information, will evaluate the same to determine further course of action, if any.”
According to news reports, the SEBI has examined whether Adani Group manipulated the share prices of its group companies by manipulating the minimum public shareholding (MPS) norms, and whether it failed to reveal related-party transactions.
In May, the SC granted a three-month extension to investigate into the allegations of stock price manipulation by Adani Group and lapses in regulations. The SEBI, however, had asked the court for a six-month extension.
The court is seized of a clutch of pleas relating to the Adani-Hindenburg row. A SC-appointed expert committee had in an interim report in May stated that it saw "no evident pattern of manipulation" in billionaire Gautam Adani's companies and there was no regulatory failure. It, however, cited several amendments the SEBI made between 2014 and 2019 that constrained the regulator's ability to investigate, and its probe into alleged violation in money flows from offshore entities has "drawn a blank".
In January, Hindenburg accused the Ahmedabad-based conglomerate of “brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud”, allegations that Adani Group has vehemently denied, calling the report “a calculated attack on India”.