New Delhi:
Senior lawyer Mahesh Jethmalani has punctured US short seller Hindenburg Research’s chief Nate Anderson over his announcement that he would wind up the firm. Mr Anderson said the work took a toll on him as it was “rather intense and at times all-encompassing”.
Hindenburg targeted the Adani Group in a case that is now seen as an attack on the ‘India Story’.
“Frankly speaking, I don’t know how old Mr Anderson is, but the fact of the matter is that he’s not had some sterling results. His claim to fame really rests on the Adani hit job, which he was part of. I don’t think he’s done other serious work or businesses of note. So, he is essentially a research analyst,” Mr Jethmalani told NDTV.
One of the reasons for winding up Hindenburg, Mr Anderson said, was it completed the projects it was handling. The announcement comes just days before President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration event. There is speculation Hindenburg is disbanding to avoid a possible India-US joint investigation.
“I really don’t know his exact line of business. He is a research analyst who provides reports to people, or he is hired by people who need to bear-hammer a few shares for profiteering. In this case, of course, he became a little larger than life because he took on one of the biggest industries in India, which for a couple of days caused serious economic turbulence in the country,” Mr Jethmalani said.
Mr Anderson’s allegations led to panic among investors and wiped out more than $150 billion in the value of the Adani Group shares at their lowest point. A lot of that was money from small-time investors, men and women who put in their hard-earned savings. And now Mr Anderson says ‘I am off, I am done.’
How does one ensure accountability?
“As far as India is concerned, SEBI is on the job. The problem is that this man doesn’t live in India. He is presumably a US national. Now, if he is a US national, all the best we can do is seek the cooperation of the government. But the last government, the ‘Democratic deep state’ as we call it, were hand in glove with this man through the [George] Soros connection,” Mr Jethmalani told NDTV, referring to an investigation by the capital markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
“Soros is the biggest financial contributor to the coffers of the Democratic party and has an overwhelming say in their policies, particularly the economic policies. Now, Soros is known for his anti-India and particularly anti-PM Modi government stand. So, there is not much you can do except now hope that – and I suspect – that the Trump administration may already have started some kind of a probe which led to this man winding up his company,” the senior lawyer said.
“Having said that, whatever aid we can get from the Trump administration, which will be a lot more friendlier to the Indian government on this issue as well, we should undoubtedly invoke that help, and see that this man is brought to justice along with all the others whom he connived with,” Mr Jethmalani added.
Earlier today, another senior lawyer, Mukul Rohatgi, described Hindenburg as a “dubious organisation”. Mr Rohatgi, who is also the former Attorney General for India, told NDTV Hindenburg had been constantly attacking the Indian economy and a company, shaking the confidence of the Indian markets and “affecting the investments of millions of people.”
“Look, I don’t think anybody could accept or, you know, find out anything more about a dubious organisation, an organisation which says that they are short sellers. They say that they are out to create havoc in share markets… And I think they have realised that it is a shoot and scoot policy,” Mr Rohatgi told NDTV.
“And therefore, they want to just close down because they don’t want to face any investigation, either in India or the US or any other jurisdiction. And maybe they fear that when President Trump takes over, he may look into the complaints filed by Indian bodies and industrial houses or Indian government entities,” the senior lawyer said. “Therefore, the idea is to shut shop and run away.”
He said Hindenburg will have to face investigation somehow.
“The people who are behind this dubious organisation, they will certainly be liable and they can certainly be tracked down wherever they are. And they must face the heat and face the action,” Mr Rohatgi said.
The matter had turned political with the Congress and other Opposition parties seeking a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe into the Hindenburg report, despite India’s institutions and the Supreme Court completely dismissing Hindenburg’s “findings”.
Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani at the annual general meeting in June said the group “faced baseless accusations made by a foreign short seller that questioned our decades of hard work.”
“In the face of an unprecedented attack on our integrity and reputation, we fought back and proved that no challenge could weaken the foundations on which your Group has been established,” he said.
