Congress asks government to break silence on freezing of Adani Group’s foreign investors’ accounts

The Congress on Tuesday asked the government to break its silence over the National Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL) freezing the accounts of three foreign investor funds holding a sizeable stake in Adani Group companies and come out with the truth. Congress spokesperson Gourav Vallabh demanded that the government also make public the beneficiaries of the foreign investor funds which have invested over 95 per cent of their funds in four Adani Group companies that made big gains in the past year.

This comes a day after shares of Adani Group companies plunged up to 25 per cent amid reports that the NSDL has frozen accounts of these three funds.

The Adani Group, however, said the accounts had not been frozen and that any reports to the contrary were “blatantly erroneous and misleading”.

According to news reports, Vallabh said, the NSDL, which is the central securities depository under the Ministry of Finance, has frozen the accounts of Adani Group’s three foreign investor funds: Albula Investment Fund, Cresta Fund and APMS Investment Fund.

These three funds, which have the same registered address in Port Louis, Mauritius and have no websites of their own, together own over Rs 43,500 crore worth of shares in four Adani Group companies, he said.

The funds derive more than 95 per cent of their net worth from their investments in the Adani Group companies, he added.

“The NSDL and the Finance Ministry need to break their silence and come out with the truth,” Vallabh told reporters.

“The Congress party demands that SEBI and NSDL come out with a complete disclosure about the nature of these funds, ultimate beneficial ownership of these funds, the findings of their enquiry (if any), what securities these funds hold and why their accounts were frozen,” he said.

The Congress spokesperson said

came out with a statement saying the demat account in which the aforesaid funds hold the shares were not frozen.

“But why has the NSDL, which is under the jurisdiction of Ministry of Finance, not come out with a public statement in the middle of all the confusion (on) whether accounts of these funds pertaining to the investments in the Adani Group companies have been frozen and which ones are active?” he asked.

Vallabh demanded that an ongoing investigation by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to ascertain whether the Adani Group manipulated its stock prices be handed over to the Enforcement Directorate.

“We also demand that if SEBI’s ongoing investigation has revealed any irregularities with regards to price manipulation of Adani Group stocks, the government of India should transfer the investigation to the Enforcement Directorate to investigate the entire matter and come out with the truth for everyone to understand,” he said.