In the latest addition to the Adani-Hindenburg saga, the US-based short seller alleged that the Swiss authorities had frozen Adani Group’s funds amounting to $310 million (approximately ₹2,600 crore) over money laundering and securities forgery investigation.

The Adani Group, however, has rejected the claims in a statement.

A Swiss media report suggests that court orders published on August 9 and September 10 have alleged that the Adani Group is involved in various illegal activities ranging from money laundering to financial embezzlement.

A company owned by Taiwanese-Chinese national Chang-Chung Ling has made huge investments in the Adani Group’s supposedly opaque funds.

Parallelly, Hindenburg, in a tweet, stated, “Swiss authorities have frozen more than $310 million in funds across multiple Swiss bank accounts as part of a money laundering and securities forgery investigation into Adani, dating back as early as 2021.”

According to a report from Gotham City, an online magazine specialising in economic offences, a Swiss federal criminal court ruling suggested that the Geneva public prosecutor’s office had been investigating alleged corruption by Adani for a considerable period before Hindenburg made its accusations.

“Prosecutors detailed how an Adani frontman invested in opaque British Virgin Islands (BVI)/Mauritius & Bermuda funds that almost exclusively owned Adani stocks, according to newly released Swiss criminal court records reported by Swiss media outlet @news_gotham.”

The authorities in Switzerland had frozen five Swiss accounts belonging to an individual believed to be a frontman for the billionaire Adani.

The public prosecutor’s office of the Confederation launched its investigation following the publication of the case in a newspaper.

The media house reports that a court-described party, referenced in a Hindenburg Research dossier and the subsequent report, supports the assertion that Adani and his frontman, Taiwanese-Chinese businessman Chang Chung-Ling, were involved in wrongdoing.

Moreover, Swiss investigators suspect that Chang Chung-Ling is not the ultimate beneficiary but is, in fact, a frontman. Another name that has surfaced is that of Saudi national Nasser Ali Shaban Ahly.

He and the Taiwanese-Chinese national have been presented as public investors, although they are in fact insiders of Adani and this is a violation of Indian law.

The Adani Group, however, refuted the claims, calling it ‘preposterous, irrational, and absurd’.

The statement from the group read, “We unequivocally reject and deny the baseless allegations presented. The Adani Group has no involvement in any Swiss court proceedings, nor have any of our company accounts been subject to sequestration by any authority. Furthermore, even in the alleged order, the Swiss court has not mentioned our group companies, nor have we received any requests for clarification or information from any such authority or regulatory body. We reiterate that our overseas holding structure is transparent, fully disclosed, and compliant with all relevant laws.”

The group also alleged that this was an attempt to damage its market value.

Trapped in a labyrinth

Notably, Hindenburg’s report alleges that shell companies linked to Vinod Adani or Gautam Adani have been used for stock parking or to engineer Adani’s accounts.

It has identified 38 such entities in Mauritius, Cyprus, Singapore, and various Caribbean islands.

Chung-Ling’s name first surfaced in the Hindenburg report in 2023. He was accused of making huge profits by manipulating Adani’s shares with the help of offshore funds.

According to the Hindenburg report, Chung Ling’s firm, Gromor, made a windfall of $423 million overnight due to the merger of shares of Adani Power.