Billionaire George Soros linked to an alleged hit job by a competing business conglomerate after a report timed with important court dates slammed as “not mere coincidence.”
In a statement released Monday by the Ahmedabad, India-based multinational conglomerate Adani Group, owned by billionaire Gautum Adani, the group ripped into Britain’s Financial Times for running stories that “rehash old and baseless allegations” to the benefit of rival Soros.
Pointing to the Times journalist Dan McCrum and a report run in conjunction with the Soros-backed (and, given the allegations, ironically-named) Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), the Adani Group leveled “Having failed earlier, the FT is making another effort to financially destabilise the Adani Group by raking up an old, baseless allegation of over-invoicing of coal imports.”
As reported by the Hindustan Times, on Aug. 31, 2023, “two men allegedly linked to Gautam Adani’s brother Vinod Adani” were said to be “using Bermuda’s Global Opportunities Fund ‘to amass and trade large positions in shares of the Adani Group.'”
“There is a renewed attempt by the Financial Times and its collaborators to rehash old and baseless allegations to tarnish the name and standing of the Adani Group. This is part of their extended campaign to advance vested interests under the guise of public interest,” asserted the Adani Group.
“Continuing their relentless campaign,” the statement argued, “the next attack is being fronted by Dan McCrum of the Financial Times, who jointly with the OCCRP put out a false narrative against the Adani Group on 31 August 2023. The OCCRP is funded by George Soros, who has openly declared his hostility against the Adani Group.”
After the August report, a spokesperson for the conglomerate had released a statement that asserted the claims being presented had “attained finality in March 2023 when the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India ruled in our favour. Clearly, since there was no over-valuation, there is no relevance or foundation to these allegations on transfer of funds.”
Media statement on a report published by OCCRP. pic.twitter.com/O9Z5xyQ7KT
— Adani Group (@AdaniOnline) August 31, 2023
Adani further asserted the Times’ “brazen agenda is exposed by the fact that they have singled out the Adani Group, while the DRI’s Circular, the raison d’être for the whole story, mentions as many as 40 importer…” before going on to refute “selective misrepresentation” of the facts by pointing to the transparency of coal procurement in India.
In the wake of the report, the Financial Times featured the impact it had had on Adani’s shares as a $4 billion loss was printed on the front page the following day over so-called “hidden investors.” This collapse followed extreme losses by for Adani who, prior to a report from short-seller Hindenburg in January, had been worth $120 billion and credited as the third richest man on earth.
Adani Share Lose $4bn As Politicians Demand Action Over Hidden Investors
▫Conglomerate’s stock falls 3.3%
▫Spotlight on Indian institutions
▫Opaque offshore units revealed
▫@JohnReedwrites @jyots43 @FD #frontpagestoday #UK @FinancialTimes pic.twitter.com/oUxMZhLodj— (@ukpapers) September 1, 2023
Within a month, his personal wealth was marked as falling by more than $80 billion as Soros, a known economic disruptor, suggested the impact to the business empire could prove an opportunity for a “democratic revival” in India.
“It is unfortunate that some foreign entities like the OCCRP, supported by a section of the foreign media, short-sellers and domestic collaborators, have launched a series of attacks against the Adani Group with the primary intent of dragging down its market value,” continued the Adani Group statement Monday. “In fact, these individuals and groups, bound by the common objective of damaging the Adani Group, have developed a playbook which is being executed to perfection by a well-oiled and professional machinery working in sync both within India and abroad.”
“It is not mere coincidence that such stories have an uncanny ability to appear just before the hearing dates of important cases in India’s courts,” they added.