All the ten Adani group stocks slumped in early trade on Monday (August 12, 2024), with Adani Energy tumbling 17%, after the U.S. short-seller Hindenburg Research alleged that SEBI chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband had undisclosed investments in obscure offshore funds in Bermuda and Mauritius, the same entities allegedly used by Vinod Adani to round-trip funds and inflate stock prices.
Adani Energy Solutions nosedived 17%, Adani Total Gas tanked 13.39%, NDTV plunged 11% and Adani Power dropped 10.94% on the BSE.
Also read: Who is Madhabi Puri Buch, the markets regulator under attack from Hindenburg?
Stocks of Adani Green Energy declined 6.96%, Adani Wilmar slumped 6.49%, Adani Enterprises tumbled 5.43%, Adani Ports dived 4.95%, Ambuja Cements skidded 2.53% and ACC dipped 2.42%.
Hindenburg Research had on Saturday alleged that SEBI chairperson Buch and her husband had undisclosed investments in obscure offshore funds in Bermuda and Mauritius, the same entities allegedly used by Vinod Adani - the elder brother of group chairman Gautam Adani - to round-trip funds and inflate stock prices.
Buch and her husband issued a statement calling Hindenburg's latest tirade as an attack on the credibility of SEBI and attempted "character assassination".
In the equity market, the 30-share BSE Sensex tanked 479.78 points to 79,226.13. The NSE Nifty dropped 155.4 points to 24,212.10.
Buch and her husband Dhaval Buch in a joint statement on Sunday said the investments were made in 2015, well before her appointment as a whole-time member of SEBI in 2017 and the subsequent elevation as chairperson in March 2022, and in capacity as "private citizens living in Singapore". These funds became "dormant" on her appointment in SEBI.
"SEBI was tasked with investigating investment funds relating to the Adani matter, which would include funds Ms Buch was personally invested in and funds by the same sponsor which were specifically highlighted in our original report. This is obviously a massive conflict of interest," Hindenburg said.
Published - August 12, 2024 10:49 am IST
