Mauritian regulator revokes licences of Adani-linked firm under probe: Report

Mauritius’ Financial Services Commission (FSC) revoked the business and investment licences of the firm, the controlling shareholder of two funds that invested in listed Adani companies and are now under probe. The license was cancelled eight months before the US-based short seller Hindenburg’s explosive revelation against the Adani Group.

According to a report by The Indian Express, the Mauritian financial regulator Financial Services Commission (FSC) revoked the business and investment licences of Emerging India Fund Management Ltd (EIFM), the controlling shareholder of two Mauritius-based funds in May 2022.

The regulators alleged a breach by EIFM of several provisions of laws meant to curb money laundering and ensure corporate governance, the daily added.

Mauritius FSC on its website mentioned that EIFM “acted in breach” of various sections of the Financial Services Act, the Securities Act, the Financial Intelligence and Anti-Money Laundering Regulations (2003 and 2018), and the Code on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing.

Notably, EIFM and EM Resurgent Fund are two of the 13 overseas Adani investors under investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

However, after the Hindenburg report, a top official of the Mauritian FSC said that an “initial assessment” of the entities associated with the Adani Group in Mauritius did not reveal any breach of law.

As per the latest records available, EIFM’s two Mauritius funds held 3.9% of Adani Power Limited, 3.8% of Adani Transmission Limited, and, at least, 1.73% of Adani Enterprise Limited, the report said.

This year in January, US-based short seller Hindenburg Research alleged that Adani Group is involved in accounting fraud, stock price manipulation, and improper use of tax havens. Following this, the Supreme Court asked SEBI to look into the allegations and submit its findings.

Last month, Sebi informed the Supreme Court through a status report that it had completed the probe in 22 of the 24 matters against the Adani group and is awaiting information from five tax havens on the actual owners who had invested in its group firms.

Also read: Hindenburg Case: SEBI concealed 2014 DRI alert on Adani Group manipulations, says petitioner

Last month millions Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) also reported that millions of dollars were invested in publicly traded Adani Group stocks through funds in Mauritius, and added that this “obscured” the involvement of alleged business partners of India’s Adani family.

Citing a review of files from tax havens and internal Adani Group emails, the non-profit global network of investigative journalists said two individual investors (Nasser Ali Shaban Ahli from Dubai and Chang Chung-Ling from Taiwan) with “longtime business ties” to the Adani family used such offshore structures to buy and sell Adani shares between 2013 and 2018.

The Adani Group categorically rejected what it called recycled allegations in the OCCRP report “in their entirety”.