In a dramatic twist, senior lawyer Mahesh Jethmalani has alleged that a businessman with ties to China commissioned the report by short-seller Hindenburg Research, which caused a significant drop in the stock prices of Adani Group companies.
In a detailed post on the social media platform X, Jethmalani accused Mark Kingdon, an American businessman and founder of Kingdon Capital Management LLC, of hiring Hindenburg to create a damaging report on the Adani Group.
Taking to X, Jethmalani posted, “Here’s a huge smoking gun in the sordid episode of the short sale of Adani shares by Hindenburg.”
Here’s a huge smoking gun in the sordid episode of the short sale of #Adani shares by #Hindenburg. Pursuant to #SEBI‘s notice to Hindenburg, the following facts emerge:
1. Hindenburg – a research agency – was hired by American businessman #MarkKingdon to prepare a report on the… https://t.co/yar0uEuarm— Mahesh Jethmalani (@JethmalaniM) July 4, 2024
He further claimed, “For those who want to learn about accomplished Chinese spy Anla Cheng, who, along with her husband Mark Kingdon, hired Hindenburg for a research report on Adani, engaged the services of Kotak to facilitate a trading account to short sell Adani shares.”
For those who want to learn about accomplished #Chinese spy #AnlaCheng who along with her husband #MarkKingdon hired #Hindenburg for a research report on #Adani, engaged the services of Kotak to facilitate a trading account to short sell Adani shares; who made millions of dollars… pic.twitter.com/XhA9lfMFE2
— Mahesh Jethmalani (@JethmalaniM) July 5, 2024
Jethmalani accused Kingdon and Cheng of making millions from short-selling Adani shares, significantly eroding the company’s market cap and harming numerous Indian retail investors.
He suggested that their actions were part of a strategy to promote Chinese interests by undermining a major Indian competitor.
According to Jethmalani, Kingdon also collaborated with Kotak Mahindra Investments Limited (KMIL) to establish an offshore fund and accounts to trade Adani shares, leading to the creation of the Kotak India Opportunity Fund (KIOF).
SEBI Issues Notice On Adani Trading Violations
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) earlier this week issued a show-cause notice to Hindenburg Research, Nathan Anderson, and entities associated with Mauritius-based foreign portfolio investor Kingdon for trading violations related to Adani Enterprises Ltd.
SEBI’s investigation revealed a conspiracy involving Kotak Mahindra and Hindenburg to take short positions in Adani shares.
Jethmalani highlighted that Kingdon’s wife, Anla Cheng, a Chinese-American with significant holdings in the Kingdon Master Fund, is a lobbyist for Chinese interests in the United States.
He pointed out her role as CEO of SupChina, a media initiative accused of serving Chinese interests, which later rebranded as The China Project following a whistleblower’s testimony before the US Congress.
“The China Project shut down after calls for an investigation into its subversive activities by some US senators, including having links with the Chinese Communist Party. The latter clearly has a bone to pick with the Adani group,” Jethmalani stated.
He further claimed that the actions of Cheng and Kingdon were driven by the Adani Group’s successes in outbidding Chinese competitors for strategic projects, such as the Haifa Port in Israel and coal projects near Sri Lanka’s Jaffna.
Jethmalani’s Queries: Kingdon Introduction, Short-Selling, and Awareness of Chinese Link
Jethmalani posed three critical questions in his post:
- Who introduced the Kingdons to KMIL, what due diligence did KMIL conduct regarding the Kingdons, and did it engage in the short sell as a principal?
- Did all the Indian individuals, organizations, and entities that assisted Hindenburg know about the short-selling plan, and did they benefit from it?
- Were these individuals and entities aware of the Chinese link?
In response to the allegations, Hindenburg stated that while SEBI seemingly tied itself in knots to claim jurisdiction over us, its notice conspicuously failed to name the party that has an actual tie to India, Kotak Bank, one of India’s largest banks and brokerage firms founded by Uday Kotak, which created and oversaw the offshore fund structure used by our investor partner to bet against Adani.
Hindenburg asserted that the entity in question was the Kotak India Opportunities Fund, with the acronym KMIL used to mask the name Kotak.
Kotak Mahindra (International) Ltd, a unit of Kotak Mahindra Bank, denied these claims, stating that Hindenburg was never a client of the K-India Opportunities Fund or Kotak Mahindra International Ltd (KMIL).
