'Uninformed and deliberate attempt to mislead': Adani Group CFO on Mahua Moitra's tweet against Vinod Adani

Adani Group CFO Jugeshinder 'Robbie' Singh on Thursday slammed Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra for her tweet against the status of Vinod Adani, chairman Gautam Adani's elder brother, in the embattled conglomerate.

"Sad. Uninformed & deliberate attempt to mislead by Hon MP of Indian parliament," tweeted Singh against Moitra's tweet. 

"Adani in Jan said - “Vinod Adani does not hold any managerial position in any Adani listed entities or their subsidiaries & has no role in their day to day affairs”. Today it says “ Vinod Adani is part of the ‘promoter group’ of various listed entities within Adani group”," Moitra tweeted. 

Her tweet came hours after Adani Group clarified that Vinod Adani is part of the promoter group, after questions were raised about his status following a report by The Morning Context, which said Vinod Adani is the ultimate beneficiary of ACC and Ambuja Cements, not Adani Group. US short seller Hindenburg Research also named him prominently in its scathing report on the Adani Group.

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The group had last year acquired Swiss-based Holcim’s cement businesses in India – Ambuja Cements Ltd and ACC Ltd – for $10.5 billion (around Rs 85,000 crore).

'We would like to submit that Gautam Adani and Rajesh Adani are individual promoters of various listed entities within the Adani group and Vinod Adani is an immediate relative of the individual promoters,'' the group's flagship arm Adani Enterprises said in a stock exchange filing on Thursday.

Accordingly, as per the applicable Indian regulations, ''Vinod Adani is part of the 'promoter group' of various listed entities within the Adani group.'' In response to Hindenburg questioning the role of Vinod Adani, 74, in the Adani group where it alleged ''brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud'' and use of offshore shell companies to inflate stock prices, the apples-to-airport conglomerate had in January said that ''Vinod Adani does not hold any managerial position in Adani listed entities or their subsidiaries and has no role in their day to day affairs.'' ''We reiterate that any transactions by the Adani portfolio companies with any related party have been duly identified and disclosed as related party transactions in compliance with Indian laws and standard and have been carried out on arm's length terms,'' it had said.

When asked by a Twitter user what his agrument is, Singh said: "Dear Sir, promoter is defined to outline corporate control and thus behaviour in the public markets including type of disclosure. Promoter can be or not be in management or on boards. Defintion of promoter and management or board positions are 2 different things."

Hindenburg Research had alleged that Vinod Adani was responsible for creating and managing a vast network of offshore shell entities meant for stock parking, market manipulation and laundering money, to help the conglomerate's companies maintain their appearance of financial health.

The group has denied all Hindenburg allegations, calling them ''malicious'', ''baseless'' and a ''calculated attack on India'' but it still led to a $130-billion erosion of m-cap of the listed Adani firms.

Vinod Adani is widely reported to be working out of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Regulatory filings show he is a Cypriot national.

When Adani Group bought Swiss giant Holcim AG's stake in Ambuja Cements and ACC, the deal was completed via a Mauritius-based entity called Endeavour Trade and Investment.

In the filing, Adani Group said the fact that Vinod Adani was part of the promoter group had been submitted to Indian regulatory authorities from time to time in various disclosures.

''Further, the fact that Endeavour Trade and Investment Limited (an entity controlled by Vinod Adani), the acquirer of ACC Limited and Ambuja Cements Limited, belongs to the Adani group has been disclosed in the public offer document,'' it added.

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