Adani Group Says FT 'Deliberately Recycling Malicious Allegations To Support Vested Interests'

The Adani Group alleged that there is a “renewed attempt” by Financial Times and its “collaborators to rehash old and baseless allegations” to “tarnish” the conglomerate’s image in an old case dismissed by the Supreme Court.

“This is part of their extended campaign to advance vested interests under the guise of public interest,” according to an exchange filing by the group flagship, Adani Enterprises Ltd.

The “next attack is being fronted” by FT’s Dan McCrum, who, jointly with George Soros-backed OCCRP, put out a “false narrative” against the Adani Group in an Aug. 31 report, the statement alleged.

Raking up the “baseless allegation of over-invoicing of coal imports”, the FT’s “proposed story” is based on the DRI’s General Alert Circular of March 30, 2016, the statement said. FT’s “brazen agenda is exposed” by the fact that they have singled out the Adani Group when DRI’s circular, apart from the conglomerate, mentions as many as 40 importers. These, the statement said, include “some of India’s major private power generators, like Reliance Infra, JSW Steel and Essar, but also the state power-generating companies of Karnataka, Gujarat, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, etc., and the NTPC and MSTC”.

In the case of Knowledge Infrastructure, one of the 40 importers mentioned in the circular, the DRI’s show-cause notice alleging overvaluation in the import of coal was quashed by the appellate tribunal CESTAT, the Adani Group said. The DRI’s appeal was “dismissed as withdrawn” by the Supreme Court on Jan. 24, with the observation that “we appreciate the stand taken by the government in not entering into futile litigation”. The issue of overvaluation in the import of coal was “conclusively settled” by India’s highest court of law, the filing said.

The FT’s proposed storyline is a “clever recycling and selective misrepresentation of publicly available facts and information with a deliberate and mischievous suppression of judicial decisions to arrive at a predetermined conclusion”, it said.

It shows “scant respect” for India’s regulatory and judicial processes and “deliberately ignores” the fact that coal in India is procured for long-term supply through an “open, transparent, global bidding process, thereby eliminating any possibility of price manipulation”. The tariff is fixed by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission in an “open, transparent, independent process” after carefully evaluating all variables and in consultation with the power generator, the distributor and retail consumers, the filing said.

The group alleged 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”. “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.”

“While we deny all such allegations, which are false and baseless, we also condemn such deliberate and motivated attempts to destabilise the Adani Group,” it said, adding that the conglomerate is fully compliant with all rules, regulations and disclosure requirements.

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