Winning Bizness Desk

Mumbai. The stock market regulator SEBI has filed an application before the Supreme Court, in which SEBI has sought six months more time to investigate the allegations of the Hindenburg Research report against the Adani group. On 2 March 2023, the Supreme Court ordered SEBI to investigate the allegations, in which it was ordered to complete the investigation in two months. But now SEBI is asking the court for more time to complete the investigation. Hindenburg Research of America had said in a report released on 24 January 2023 that Adani Group's stocks are 85 per cent costlier than their fair valuation. Hindenburg Research has also accused the group of market manipulation and accounting fraud in its report. After these allegations, the stocks of Adani Group had fallen by 85 percent. The market cap of group companies decreased from Rs 19 lakh crore to around Rs 7 lakh crore. That is, there was a reduction of Rs 12 lakh crore in the market cap. The group also had to withdraw the Rs 20,000 crore FPO of Adani Enterprises.

12 suspicious transactions need 15 months!

In its application, SEBI told the court that according to Hindenburg's allegations, there are 12 such suspicious transactions, which would require 15 months' time to investigate. Because apart from this transaction being very complex, there are many sub-transactions also present in it. According to SEBI, statements of financial transactions from several domestic and foreign banks will be required during the investigation. Bank statements older than 10 years will also be required, which will take time to obtain and it is challenging as well. SEBI says that it will try to complete the investigation in six months. But the question arises whether the Supreme Court gives this time to SEBI or not.

3 petitions filed against Adani group

On March 2, the Supreme Court had also constituted an expert under the chairmanship of retired judge AM Sapre to give its recommendations on strengthening SEBI's regulations after the Adani case came to the fore. SEBI told the court that it has shared the interim status of the investigation so far with the committee. Let us tell you that three petitions were filed in the Supreme Court after Hindenburg's disclosure regarding the Adani group, in which a petitioner was filed by Vishal Tiwari demanding an inquiry into Hindenburg's allegations. The second petition was filed by Congress leader Jaya Thakur and the third petition by ML Sharma.