The Hindenburg Research report levelling serious allegations of fraud and market manipulation against the Adani Group, has put the global media spotlight on Chairman Gautam Adani. The conglomerate as well as its boss have issued multiple statements trying to dismiss Hindenburg's report as malicious, and Adani also appeared on video to reassure shareholders while cancelling his hyped up FPO. But while the tycoon has been named 54 times in the 106-page report, his older brother Vinod Adani has been mentioned 151 times, despite maintaining a low profile.
The one that got away?
The lesser known Adani sibling also goes by the name Vinod Shantilal Shah, and was named as the wealthiest NRI last year. Based out of Dubai, he runs his own business, and this was used as an argument by the Adani Group to distance itself from Vinod, when he was named in the Panama Papers. That report had alleged that he opened a shell firm in the tax haven of Bahamas in 1994, and then the Pandora Papers found that he set up another shell firm in the British Virgin Islands.
Maintaining a safe distance
All along the Adani Group kept distancing itself from Gautam Adani's own brother and his shell firms, simply based on the rationale that he ran a separate business in Dubai. But in 2017, Vinod's Dubai-based firm Electrogen Infra FZE, was named by the DRI as an intermediary allegedly used by Adani Group to import overvalued equipment.
Despite the Adani Group distancing itself from the family member embroiled in multiple scandals, the Hindenburg report places him at the centre of the scam that its report has unearthed. The network of shell companies operated by Vinod Adani, was allegedly instrumental in inflating the value of the Adani Group's stocks, which were later pledged to secure more loans.
The unholy network
For instance, Vinod Adani's Endeavour Trade was used by the Adani Group as a vehicle for buying Swiss firm Holcim's stake in Ambuja Cement for $10 billion.
He also owns Pinnacle Trade and Investment, which offered Afro Asia Trade and Investments Limited and Worldwide Emerging Market Holding Limited as guarantors for a $263 million loan from Russian bank VTB.
He is the ultimate beneficial owner of Mauritius based Acropolis, which owns Worldwide Emerging Market Holding. Both of the funds also happen to hold stocks worth $4 billion in four major Adani Group firms.
Adani Group shares are all that these funds have, and hence the loans taken by Vinod Adani's Pinnacle were secured using the value of Adani stocks.
A global citizen
The lesser known Adani brother with a business in Dubai, holds a Cypriot passport and is a permanent resident of Singapore, with the exact date of birth unknown.
His $1.3 billion net worth is largely fuelled by ownership of Worldwide Emerging Market and Endeavour Trade, both of which hold ACC and Ambuja shares, apart from Adani Group stocks.
He also owns 60 properties in tax havens including Bahamas, Mauritius, Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Island, apart from the UAE and Singapore.
Converging paths of the Adani brothers
Although the two brothers started from zero as Gautam Adani has stated, 1994 was a big year for both. This was the year when Vinod moved to Dubai to trade in oil, sugar and metals, while Gautam took the Adani Group public.
Vinod Adani also set up the shell firm in the Bahamas, mentioned in the Panama Papers, in 1994, and changed his name on documents to Vinod Shantilal Shah.
Despite going their separate ways, Vinod held executive posts in Gautam Adani's firms till 2011, and his son Pranav is still the managing director at Adani Enterprises.
In Cyprus, Vinod Adani owns Vakoder Investments, which bought debentures of Adani Estates and Adani Land Developers, both subsidiaries of Adani Infrastructure and Developers, for $220 million.
These transactions and the life of Vinod Adani in relative obscurity, compared to his brother's stellar rise, also raise questions about the possibility of him being the real mastermind behind the alleged scam.
