Adani Group denies Swiss officials froze $310m fund
Business tycoon Gautam Adani is one of India's richest men
- Published
Indian billionaire Gautam Adani's firm has denied fresh allegations that Swiss authorities had frozen $310m (£236m) of their funds in Swiss bank accounts.
US-based short-seller Hindenburg Research alleged that the action was part of a money laundering and securities forgery investigation into the Adani Group.
In a post on X, Hindenburg cited "newly released Swiss criminal court records", reported by a Swiss media outlet, as its information source.
In the past, Hindenburg has accused the Adani Group of money laundering and stock market manipulation, which the firm has denied.
Hindenburg claimed that the court records showed how an Adani frontman invested in opaque overseas funds that almost exclusively owned Adani stocks.
On Thursday, the Adani Group released a statement refuting the allegations. It said that it had "no involvement in any Swiss court proceedings" and that the firm's accounts had not been frozen by any authority.
"Furthermore, even in the alleged order, the Swiss court has neither mentioned our group companies, nor have we received any requests for clarification or information from any such authority or regulatory body," the statement added.
It called the allegations "another orchestrated and egregious attempt by the same cohorts acting in unison to inflict irreversible damage on our group's reputation and market value".
Hindenburg Research has not commented on the Adani Group's statement.
The Indian business tycoon's group recently found itself mired in another controversy, also sparked by allegations made by Hindenburg Research.
Last month, the short-seller released a report accusing Madhabi Puri Buch - the chief of market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) - of having links with offshore funds used by the Adanis.
Both Ms Buch and the Adanis have denied wrongdoing.
The Adanis have also come under scrutiny in Bangladesh, where the country's interim government is reportedly set to review its power supply contract, external with the group to check the prices it's paying for electricity.