Why SEBI did not investigate Mauritius firms in Adani case: Rajan

Former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Raghuram Rajan has questioned market regulator Sebi for not yet conducting any probe into the ownership of dubious Mauritius-based firms in the case involving the Adani group. According to Rajan, these four Mauritius-based funds are said to have invested around 90 per cent of their $6.9 billion corpus in Adani Group stocks. When no investigation was done in this matter, he questioned whether SEBI needed the help of investigative agencies for this also?

Mauritius-based Elara India Opportunities Fund, Cresta Fund, Albula Investment Fund and APMS Investment Fund have been under the scanner for the past two years after allegations were made that they were shell companies. These companies were in the news again in January last year when American firm Hindenburg Research alleged that the Adani group used shell companies to inflate the price of its shares. However, the Adani group has repeatedly denied these allegations.

Rajan questioned the stand of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) during an email interview with PTI. “The point is to reduce the non-transparent relationship between the government and business, and really let the regulators do their job. Why is SEBI yet to track down the ownership of Mauritius funds that are trading in Adani shares? Does he need the help of investigative agencies for this?” Since these investment funds are registered in Mauritius, their ownership structure is not transparent. Mauritius is one of the few countries where there is no business tax. Adani Group’s shares have fallen heavily after Hindenburg’s report came out. During this period the market capitalization of these companies has halved.

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