Genuine' mastermind Vinod Adani funnels billions of dollars through 'fake' companies

- Forbes' shocking revelation after Hindenburg

- Vinod Adani's offshore company transactions are benefiting Adani's listed company in Bharat

- Forbes captures new financial transactions not in Hindenburg's research: Ambuja Cement bought for $10.5 billion by 'mastermind' Vinod Adani's own company

AHMEDABAD: The Hindenburg report alleges that the Adani Group has engaged in malpractice to drive up share prices, buy shares through companies registered in tax havens, and sell them only through its associates, Gautam Adani's elder brother Vinod Adani is the most questioned. have been raised against. Now, Forbes magazine has now given an explosive report against the Adani group after the shocking Hindenburg report.

This Forbes report also states that the financial transactions of offshore funds linked to Vinod Adani, the elder brother of group head Gautam Adani, are also benefiting Adani's listed companies in India. Forbes, famous for publishing the list of the world's richest businessmen, says that these financial transactions have never been revealed before and that these transactions prove that Hindenburg's report is indeed true.

The Hindenburg report alleged share parking, stock price manipulation and financial transactions through companies in tax havens against companies belonging to Gautam Adani's group, the world's richest man. While Gautam Adani's name is mentioned 50 times in the report, Vinod Adani, his elder brother and a non-resident Indian, is mentioned 154 times. Hindenburg alleges that Vinod Adani funnels billions of dollars through hundreds of fake companies through private companies to Adani's listed companies. No information regarding this activity is disclosed to the shareholders as per the rule in India. By holding shares in this way only through its associates, Adani has complied with the rules of 25 percent public shareholding in the Indian stock market.

Tim Buckley, director of climate energy finance when the Adani group was setting up a coal mine project in Australia, told Forbes, 'I always thought it was a partnership. Vinod is the mastermind of a private tax haven while Gautam bhai appears in public as a friend of the people.'

Endeavor Trade and Investment, a company owned by Vinod Adani, was instrumental in buying Ambuja Cement from France's Holcim for $10.5 billion. The deal made Adani the second largest cement producer in India. Everyone knows about the company called Endeavor Trade but the original owner of the Singapore based company called Pinnacle Trade and Investment is ARFT Holding of British Virgin Islands which is owned by Vinod Adani. Gautam Adani's brother-in-law Sameer Vora was also a director of Pinnacle, according to the 2021 annual documents. Vora is also a director in other companies of Adani. Pinnacle is fully controlled by Atulya Family Resource Trust, a company registered in the British Virgin Islands, which owns some of the assets of an Australian coal mining project, ABC News revealed in 2017.

In 2020, Vinod Adani's Pinnacle entered into a loan agreement with the Russian state bank and received $240 million. Pinnacle has loaned 23.5 million dollars from this loan to someone else.

In 2021, Pinnacle pledged loans to two funds, Afro Asia Trade and Worldwide Emerging Markets Holdings Limited. This worldwide emerging market is also known to be owned by Vinod Adani based on the documents presented in Singapore. Mauritius-based Acropolis Trade and Investment, owned by Vinod Adani, owns 100 percent of Worldwide Emerging Markets, according to a filing with the Indian stock market. Both these funds are major shareholders in some of Adani's companies and are counted among promoter group companies. Dt. At the price of 16 February, this holding is worth four billion dollars.

But these two funds do not have any security. It means that these shares are against the loan given by Pinnacle. Neither the fund house nor the Adani group has given any information in this regard. As Pinnacle has pledged its funds instead of pledging shares, a loophole has been discovered to provide information about the pledged shares.

According to a Forbes report, Gautam Adani is the public face of the group while Vinod Adani acts as an undercover Rustam. Vinod Adani, with a Cyprus passport, has been living in Singapore for years and has been constantly working with the Adani Group, moving between Dubai and Singapore. According to Forbes and Hindenburg Research, Vinod Adani owns or is associated with 60 companies operating in tax havens.

In the year 2012, he himself gave a loan of 23.2 million dollars to the Cyprus-based company of Vinod Adani. Vinod Adani's Dubai based company gave this loan. The Cypriot company Vacoder bought the debentures of Adani Estates and Adani Land Developers, which were converted into compulsory equity worth $220 million from the loan proceeds. The term of this debenture is now till 2024. Both these companies are subsidiaries of the original Adani Infrastructure and Developer.

Until 2012, Adani Infrastructure and Developer was a subsidiary of Adani Enterprises. In June 2012, Adani Enterprises sold this company after making a profit of 8.15 million dollars. However, four years later, Adani Infrastructure again appears in the annual report of Adani Enterprises as a joint venture. According to Forbes research, Adani Infrastructure has always been owned by the group as Adani Property, a company of the Adani family.

History of Vinod Adani

In the year 2016, black money of companies established in tax havens was revealed globally in the name of Panama Papers. The revelations, which were published on the basis of about 10 lakh documents, also contained the names of some Indian businessmen, including the name of Vinod Adani. It was also mentioned in these papers that his name was kept as Vinod Shah instead of Vinod Adani in this company.

Vinod Adani's son Pranav is a director in various companies of the Adani group in India, including Adani Enterprises. In 2014, there was a case against the Adani group for paying a higher amount than the bill for importing - over invoice - 80 million dollars and through DRI, Vinod Adani colluded with the Adani group, importing cheap plants at high prices and causing loss of forex to India. . The case is still pending.

Who is this Vinod Adani?

Vinod Adani is the elder brother of Gautam Adani, the founder of Ahmedabad-based Adani Group. Vinod Adani, who once ran a textile business in Mumbai, later settled in Dubai and has worked in areas such as trading, metals, natural resources. According to the 2012 Harun list, the name of Vinod Adani was among the richest Indians living abroad.