Category Archives: Adani Group

Adani’s Queensland coalmine a threat to important wetland, Indigenous groups and scientists say

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Letter urges environment minister to investigate alleged breaches at Doongmabulla Springs

There is growing concern that a culturally significant and nationally important wetland is under threat from Adani’s controversial coalmine in Queensland, with an Indigenous group demanding the government investigate alleged breaches of the conditions that protect the site.

Scientists say drops in water levels in bores around the Doongmabulla Springs have been detected hundreds of times since mining started, and allege hydrocarbons associated with coal have been found in bores and the springs themselves.

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Bravus, formerly Adani, narrows long-running lawsuit against activist Ben Pennings

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Mining company drops claim Pennings illegally accessed secret information in latest shift of delay-ridden three-year case

The mining firm Bravus, formerly Adani, will narrow its lawsuit against an anti-mining activist, dropping its claim that Ben Pennings illegally accessed secret information as part of a long-running lawsuit.

The company has spent three years suing the longtime campaigner after Pennings set up a website asking people to “dob in a contractor” that was working on the mine.

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Rahul Gandhi demands Modi investigation into Adani Group

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Indian opposition leader brandishes Guardian article on alleged financial violations by Adani family

Rahul Gandhi has said India’s “global reputation is on the line” and demanded that the prime minister, Narendra Modi, opens a parliamentary investigation after the Guardian revealed years of alleged financial violations by the politically connected Adani family.

Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, the most prominent figure in India’s opposition Congress party held aloft a copy of the Guardian article detailing how Adani family associates had appeared to use opaque offshore funds to secretly invest hundreds of millions of dollars into shares of their own Adani Group companies, one of the most powerful conglomerates in India.

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Modi-linked Adani family secretly invested in own shares, documents suggest

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Offshore records suggest associates of wealthy Indian family spent years acquiring stock during rise of founder to be worth $120bn

A billionaire Indian family with close ties to the country’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, secretly invested hundreds of millions of dollars into the Indian stock market, buying its own shares, newly disclosed documents suggest.

According to offshore financial records seen by the Guardian, associates of the Adani family may have spent years discreetly acquiring stock in the Adani Group’s own companies during its meteoric rise to become one of India’s largest and most powerful businesses.

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Crisis at Adani Group intensifies as Indian activists stage protests

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Opposition groups push Modi to investigate allegations by US short-seller as firm suffers market rout

The crisis engulfing the Adani Group has intensified as hundreds of members of India’s opposition parties took to the streets to press for an investigation into allegations by a US short-seller against India’s second-biggest business group which triggered its market rout.

The Adani Group said on Monday that its major investors, known in India as “promoters”, had pledged to prepay $1.1bn (£916m) in share-backed loans due for repayment by September 2024. The repayments include shares in Adani’s ports business, Adani Green Energy and Adani Transmission.

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Jo Johnson resigns as director of firm linked to Adani allegations

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Former UK PM’s brother quits board of Elara Capital days after it was accused of using funds to manipulate share prices

Jo Johnson, the younger brother of the former prime minister Boris Johnson, has resigned as a director of a London-based investment bank allegedly linked to the Indian billionaire Gautam Adani’s crisis-ridden business empire.

Lord Johnson, a former Conservative minister who was given a peerage by his brother in 2020, resigned from the board of Elara Capital on Wednesday just days after Elara was accused of using Mauritius-based funds to manipulate the share price of Adani-linked companies and obscure their ultimate ownership.

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Gautam Adani falls out of world top 10 rich list as his companies’ shares slide

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Abu Dhabi fund’s $400m investment in Indian group fails to stop fall in value after fraud allegations

The Indian billionaire Gautam Adani has fallen off the list of the world’s top 10 richest people as the value of shares in his companies continue to slide after an activist investor accused him of “pulling the largest con in corporate history”.

Before the accusations published last week on Twitter, Adani, 60, was the world’s third-richest person with an estimated $119.5bn (£97bn) fortune. He has fallen to 11th place in the daily-updated Bloomberg billionaires index after a personal wealth wipeout of $34bn in just four days of trading since the accusations were published.

Shares in Adani’s companies continued to slide on Tuesday despite a $400m investment from an Abu Dhabi investment fund linked to the country’s royal family.

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Australia news live updates: ClubsNSW chief says he ‘misspoke’ in linking Perrottet’s faith to pokies policy

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Independent MP Alex Greenwich calls on Josh Landis to step down following comments about NSW premier. Follow the latest updates live

Alice Springs’ convention centre was packed last night for a meeting where business owners alleged they’ve suffered losses due to government inaction.

The ABC is reporting that organiser and business owner Garth Thompson told the crowd that the Northern Territory government had neglected Alice Springs and residents “deserve to be compensated for what the government has put us through”.

I’m more than proud to stand here and say we, as a community of Alice Springs, are about to sue our government for $1.5 billion in compensation.

Those of us who came here for a community meeting ended up listening to 20 to 30 minutes of a local business owner essentially stir up a very emotive narrative centred around the protection of private property.

I think it’s fair to say that the premier has very little understanding of this issue and has acted from his conservative Catholic gut rather than based on evidence.

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Adani claims US investment firm’s fraud allegations are an ‘attack on India’

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Conglomerate responds to Hindenburg Research report that claimed it was the ‘biggest con in corporate history’

Adani Group has published a 413-page rebuttal of fraud allegations by Hindenburg Research, likening the US investment firm’s report to an attack on India amid mounting financial pressure on the coal conglomerate.

The lengthy response was an attempt to soothe investor concerns and stir nationalist fervour as Adani attempts to complete a US$2.5bn share sale, one of India’s largest ever fundraising campaigns, designed to finance capital expenditure and reduce debt.

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Linda Reynolds sends formal defamation complaint to Brittany Higgins’s partner – as it happened

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This blog is now closed

Ukrainian loss would embolden leaders in Pacific region, ambassador says

The ambassador of Ukraine to Australia and New Zealand, Vasyl Myroshnychenko, stresses that the reason Australia’s assistance needs to continue is because it’s in Australia’s interests to support the Ukraine:

The reason why we need to keep up and step up that assistance because this war in Ukraine is disrupting everything. It’s really undermined security, regionally, globally.

It’s having a major impact on your partners here in the region. Look at Indonesia. I mean, they are really suffering from the lack of food that can get on their market. They have 275 million people to feed and they really rely on grain from Ukraine, which now they have a hard time getting hold of as the prices have surged. We’ve seen the impact on the energy markets on the volatility of the commodity markets.

What’s important is that Australia continues to support Ukraine. We are truly thankful for what Australia has done so far, especially the last package which was announced in October where another 30 Bushmasters were allocated and the troops which are now in Britain have already been able to train Ukrainian soldiers. It’s really a big help.

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US activist investor who accused Adani of ‘biggest con in corporate history’ dares Indian group to sue

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Hindenburg Research accusations denied by Adani as ‘baseless’ while activist investor claims legal action will reveal accounting fraud

The US investor targeting Indian conglomerate Adani Group over what it claims is the “biggest con in corporate history” has dared the company to sue, given it would open the coal producer to further scrutiny.

Hindenburg Research’s report has already wiped billions of dollars of value from the sprawling empire of Gautam Adani, the world’s third richest man, and drawn in the contentious Carmichael coal and rail project in Queensland.

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Adani’s Queensland coalmine cited in US investor’s claims of ‘biggest con in corporate history’

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Scathing allegations, which company rejects as ‘baseless’, will hamper access to Wall Street but surging coal price will ease burden, experts say

The ability of Adani Group to raise money will be curbed after scathing allegations in a report by an activist US short-seller, although surging coal prices that underpin the Indian conglomerate’s contentious Queensland operations will help alleviate some pressure, analysts say.

Adani, which operates the Carmichael coal and rail project via its rebranded subsidiary Bravus, is the target of US investment firm Hindenburg Research, which alleges the company has engaged in a “brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme”.

A private company called Carmichael Rail and Port Singapore Holdings with ties to Adani paid A$147m for unspecified “work in progress” assets from the Australian operations, without a detailed description.

The same private company paid A$155m for the right to use the rail facilities at the Queensland operation.

The private Carmichael company also received A$100m from an Adani subsidiary to pay off debt.

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Adani Group firms lose $9bn in value amid short-seller claims

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Hindenburg Research says world’s third-richest person, Gautam Adani, is pulling ‘largest con in corporate history’

More than $9bn (£7.3bn) was wiped off the fortune of companies partly owned by the world’s third-richest person, after an activist investor accused him of “pulling the largest con in corporate history”.

Shares in listed companies tied to Adani’s empire Adani Group lost $9.4bn in market value on Wednesday after short seller investment firm Hindenburg Research published a detailed investigation into accusations of “brazen stock manipulation”, “accounting fraud” and “money laundering.”

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Billionaire Modi ally on verge of taking over independent Indian news channel

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Gautam Adani’s takeover of NDTV is ‘serious threat to democracy’ in India, says news anchor

One of India’s few remaining news channels known for independent reporting is about to be taken over by a billionaire ally of the prime minister, Narendra Modi.

In recent years, NDTV (New Delhi Television) has earned a reputation as one of the last bastions of independent journalism among India’s mainstream media, which have increasingly been put under pressure to toe the government line under Modi, who came to power in 2014.

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Secret dealings: state-owned Queensland water company refuses to outline Adani relationship

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Sunwater says documents confidential after right-to-information request reveals dealings with mining giant

A Queensland government-owned water corporation is holding back 96 documents detailing its business dealings with Adani, refusing to answer questions or release any information about the nature of agreements it says are commercial in confidence.

The source of the billions of litres of water Adani needs every year for its Carmichael coalmine in central Queensland has been shrouded in secrecy since its bid to pipe from the Suttor River was overturned by the federal court.

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Adani drops $600m claim against Queensland activist and seeks $17m instead

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Mining giant claims Ben Pennings sought to disrupt operations of the Carmichael coalmine, its suppliers and contractors

Mining giant Adani has revealed it was seeking to claim more than $600m in damages from an environmental activist, a figure it has now dropped from its civil case against Ben Pennings.

Adani claims Pennings, as the national spokesperson of the group Galilee Blockade, sought to disrupt the operations of the Carmichael coalmine, its suppliers and contractors.

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‘Highly implausible’ that new Galilee Basin coalmines would be profitable, study finds

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Report says Adani’s Carmichael mine in central Queensland seems ‘rather a political decision, not an economically driven one’

Any new coalmines in Australia’s Galilee Basin, including Adani’s Carmichael mine, will not be economically viable in the long run under even the most generous assumptions about the future of the fossil fuel, according to an analysis by German academics.

The study, developed in conjunction with Australian experts, found it was “highly implausible” that mines in the central Queensland basin could run profitably and there was a high chance they would end up as stranded assets.

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Queensland police refuse to remove traditional owners occupying Adani’s coalmine site

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Miner says group is ‘trespassing’ but police have acknowledged their cultural rights under human rights act

Queensland police have told a group of First Nations people occupying the site of Adani’s Carmichael coalmine for the past five weeks that they have no intention of removing them from the area “at this time”.

The group of Wangan and Jagalingou traditional owners opposed to the coalmine project began an ongoing cultural ceremony within the boundary of Adani’s mining lease in late August.

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Future Fund worth $250bn says FoI requests ‘administratively burdensome’

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Fund says ‘hundreds of hours a year’ are required to process requests that would be shielded under proposed Coalition legislation

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The $250bn Future Fund says receiving 10 to 20 freedom of information requests a year is “administratively burdensome” and has confirmed proposed changes by the Morrison government would have shielded it from the kind of request that exposed investments in a company linked to the Myanmar military.

Last month, the Coalition introduced a bill granting wide-ranging exemptions to the Future Fund from freedom of information law, prompting criticism that it was a “calculated response” to an FoI that revealed its $3.2m investment in an Adani company criticised by the United Nations for an arrangement that gave financial support to the Myanmar military.

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Victoria reports 113 new cases, NSW nine and Queensland two – as it happened

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Labor grills the Coalition on aged care and the PM discusses the foreign relations bill. This blog is now closed

That is where we will leave the live blog for this evening. If you want to follow the latest global coronavirus news you can follow our other live blog here.

Here’s what we learned today:

#breaking Sports rorts: 70% of grants from separate fund went to Coalition seats, Greens say #auspol #sportsrorts https://t.co/iej3ex14JO

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