Ref.: Unknown US companies and individuals providing services or products including raising capital in violation of The U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) standards and dealing with a Ghost company working for Russia in violation of US sanctions against Russia.
Hon. Chairman McHenry, Hon. Chairman Wyden & Committee Members: Greetings.
The undersigned wants to draw the attention of the Honorable Committee that unknown US companies and individuals are providing services or products including raising capital to two Indian business entities that has become a threat to US Financial System and Security of our country. It is my humble request to the Honorable members of the committees to investigate these unknown US companies and individuals that have provided or are providing services or products or capital to the two Indian corporations in gross violation of various US Laws.
- Adani Group is raising money in USA for the last 4 years in violation of US Laws:
Adani Group of companies is owned by Gautam Adani with personal relations with India’s PM Modi dating back to the late 1990’s. It won’t be an exaggeration if Gautam Adani is called “The Poster Boy of Gangster Capitalism of India.” Adani’s status as a recipient of favors from Narendra Modi of BJP has been the subject of continuous criticism in India since Modi was Chief Minister of the State of Gujarat for 13 years from 2001 to 2014. The favors gathered speed after Modi took over as PM of India in 2014. Prior to Modi entering Gujarat politics in 1998, Adani was a key ally of Gujarat BJP leaders for years. BJP has been ruling Gujarat since 1995 to the present and it is a well-known fact that Adani helped Modi to become CM of Gujarat in 2001 and later PM of India in 2014. Harvard’s ranking of states and districts in Human Development Index; Gujarat has the lowest rank at 28 out of 28. India’s ranking under PM Modi in the United Nations HDI has fallen to 132 of 191 countries in 2022.
Forbes, Jul 17, 2014: Adani has, over the years, leased 7,350 hectares–much of which he got from 2005 onward–from the (Modi) government in Mundra. He got the 30-year, renewable leases for as little as one U.S. cent a square meter (the rate maxed out at 45 cents a square meter). He in turn has sublet this land to other companies, including state-owned Indian Oil Co., for as much as $11 per square meter. Between 2005 and 2007 at least 1,200 hectares of grazing land was taken away from villagers. See Link # 12 & 8 Adani News
Newsclick EXCLUSIVE: How Gujarat Government Helped Adani’s Port Company
The Adani Group was established in 1988 and became publicly traded in 1994. But its real rise happened under Modi’s reign in Gujarat. From 2002 to March 2013 the group’s revenue rose from $765 million to $8.8 billion while net profits climbed even faster. Gautam Adani’s meteoric success started under CM Modi of Gujarat in 2001 and became an exceptional international story after Modi became PM of India in 2014. From an importer of primary polymers for small-scale industries, Adani grew to become the biggest private operator of ports, Airports, and largest producer of electricity, under the preferential patronage of PM Modi. In addition, the Adani group has substantial interests in a variety of sectors: defense, coal mining, oil and gas exploration, gas distribution, transmission and distribution of electricity, civil construction and infrastructure, multi-modal logistics, international trade, education, real estate, edible oils, and food storage. His companies currently trade in over 30 commodities with at least 28 countries. At the same time, Adani ports are notorious for drug hauls for billions of dollars in India. See Link # 13 & 14 Adani.
(https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-58634575)
(https://thewire.in/government/heroin-seuzure-adani-mundra-worry-indian-authorities)
The fact that Adani Group is tightly controlled by family members with very dubious records is well known in India and in countries where they are operating. The corporate structure is totally opaque with dozens of shell companies in various tax havens since the inception of Adani Group. The money is hard to track. Most have flowed into trusts, which don’t report financial results, making it impossible to tell where it ended up. In other instances, recipients simply report in filings that the funds came from a “related party,” offering no other details. And public disclosure in Mauritius, the Cayman Islands and UAE is scant. Moreover in 2018, the provision of dealing with an ‘opaque structure’ and requiring a Foreign Portfolio Investment (FPI) to disclose every ultimate natural person at the end of the chain of every owner of economic interest with the FPI was done away with by Modi government to benefit Adani.” This rickety structure has become a debt-ridden house of cards with rapid diversification after 2014 when Modi become PM of India.
Louis Vuitton. Tesla. Amazon, Apple, Microsoft; the businesses behind the richest people in the world need no introduction. But last year, Gautam Adani, a state -created Billionaire, a name that does not command the same global recognition joined this rarefied list by becoming the 2nd richest person in the world in Sep 2022, with a net worth of $154 billion, up from $70 Million in 1998. The overall market capitalization of the 10 Adani Group stocks stood at its peak of $232 billion on Jan. 24, 2023, the day New York based Hindenburg Research released its report.
Hindenburg accused that Adani group has “engaged in a brazen stock price manipulation, stock parking, accounting fraud, round tripping of cash, Import-Export scams, money laundering through 38 offshore shell companies etc. over the course of decades.” The report describes a galaxy of shell entities based in the Caribbean, Mauritius and the United Arab Emirates controlled by the Adani family. Further it accused that Gautam Adani’s elder brother Vinod Adani has played a pivotal part in perpetuating what it alleged is “the largest con in corporate history.” See Link # 1 Adani News
Then on Jan 29th, 2023, Adani group in its 413-page written rebuttal, denounced Hindenburg’s report as “baseless” and “malicious,” and accused the firm of having an “ulterior motive” for publishing the “missive.” It said Hindenburg’s actions represent a “calculated attack on India, the independence, integrity, and quality of Indian institutions, and the growth story and ambition of India.” See Link # 2 Adani News
Same day on Jan 29, 2023, Hindenburg Research replied, “Fraud Cannot Be Obfuscated By Nationalism Or A Bloated Response That Ignores Every Key Allegation We Raised. See Link # 3 Adani News
(https://hindenburgresearch.com/adani-response/)
What Hindenburg exposed was well known to Indian journalists for a long time, but they were forced to keep quiet about Adani’s meteoric rise because of fear of reprisal and heavy legal cost for defending themselves in million dollars lawsuits filed by Adani. On top of that, the world’s top reputed Mutual Fund Managers including a few Indian Managers also knew about Adani and for that reason they never invested in the Adani Group of companies. According to Fisdom Research, as of December 2022, mutual fund industry has a negligible exposure of 0.64 per cent to Adani group companies. Of which 0.18 per cent was through the passive route, where the fund manager had no option but to invest in stocks. See Link # 7 Adani News
(https://themorningcontext.com/business/why-do-these-foreign-funds-love-adani-group-companies)
Tim Buckley, an analyst in Sydney, Australia, who has followed Adani’s business for more than a decade said, “The big issue is that Adani has spent the last four years in raising debt on Wall Street. If you raise money in America, you have to play by America’s rules.”
Surprisingly even after Hindenburg Report, Rajiv Jain came up with a rosy presentation to the investors in his Fund GQG Partners, based in Florida by investing $1.9 Billion by calling Adani stocks “could be multibaggers” over five years. Can Rajiv Jain deny the existence of Shell Companies of Adani Bros that invested in Adani Group? Can Rajiv Jain deny the fact that money used by these Shell Companies (1) Could be money stolen from Indian public with the help of politicians OR (2) Could be Drug Money OR (3) illegal Arms Sale Money to Rouge Regimes or terrorist groups OR (4) Chinese Mafia Money OR (5) Russian Mafia Money OR (6) Middle East Royal Family member’s money siphoned off from their own Kingdoms. OR (7) Give detailed response/answers to 88 questions raised by Hindenburg Research.
On top of that Rajiv Jain is peddling lies in the USA based on Modi aka Indian Media reports that Indian Supreme Court has given a clean chit to Adani. Bloomberg columnist Andy Mukherjee wrote that SC panel’s job was not to return a finding on allegations against Adani by Hindenburg.
Saaransh Maurya, a 22-year-old assistant manager, has filed an affidavit in Supreme Court on behalf of SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India). Reacting to it, Shiv Senna (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi wrote, “Must be either super experienced…or naive enough.” Meanwhile, columnist Andy Mukherjee said, “Young enough to be hero of a John Grisham…novel.” See Link # 10 Adani News
(https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/company/corporate-trends/view-adani-probe-will-only-produce-heat-not- light/articleshow/100389548.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst)
According to “The Morning Context, “if you remove these [offshore] funds, the effective [public] shareholding in Adani Enterprises comes down to only 10%.” In Adani Transmission, the “effective public float is about 7-8%.” This is in violation of SEBI’s own rules that listed companies are required to maintain a minimum public holding (or free float) of 25%. This allows a company to raise money from the market. [Note that stock exchanges froze the promoter shareholding of Patanjali Foods after the company failed to meet the 25% public shareholding.] But the Supreme Court’s expert committee report says that these provisions requiring FPI to disclose “ultimate natural person” were done away with in 2018.
Adani, Jeffrey Skilling, Bernie Madoff, Ken Lay, Bernie Ebbers, Scott Sullivan, Robert Maxwell…. There’s an endless parade of swindlers who can pry apart accounting standards and financial regulations wide enough to drive a gigantic con through. They appear every 3 to 5 years. All of them have been prosecuted and locked up in Jails except Biggest Conman in Corporate history Gautam Adani. He is being defended by PM Modi’s Cabinet Ministers, BJP MP’s, Party officials, RSS & entire Media owned by friends of Modi as well as Adani; for being the biggest financial criminal in the corporate history of India; surpassing the other state created thug billionaires of India since 1947.
What the Committee needs to understand is that Adani Group has not invented anything, nor built anything, nor come up with an original business idea like Amazon. It is built on only fraudulent agenda of massively looting public wealth of India with the help of politicians. This wealth was result of the sacrifices made by millions of poor Indians who donated their hard-earned assets to build a better nation. Adani is a threat to the financial system and security of America and must be stopped from operating in America. The US companies or individuals that have helped Adani or are helping him to raise funds and investments in America must be prosecuted. These financially well qualified entities or individuals don’t have a benefit of doubt that they were not aware of Adani’s background and history. People like Rajiv Jain that are promoting Adani in America are a danger to the moral and ethical fiber of our society. Rajiv Jain has no moral & ethical values the proof is his investment in Fraudster Adani Group that may have been created by looting Indian public wealth with the help of criminal politicians installed with the looted money. Since Rajiv Jain is more concerned about “Returns on his Fund’s Investments” than Ethics & Morality, tomorrow he can promote investments in Gambling or Prostitution or Drug or Arms Cartels that can give him better returns than Adani.
2.Gatik Ship Management: A Ghost company backed by Russian’s received services from Unknown US companies or individuals in Violation of US Sanctions against Russia:
Gatik’s Main Business: Crude Oil Shipments on the Russia-India Route. Gatik purchased services related to their shipping business from American Companies despite US sanctions against Russia. These US companies must be investigated and prosecuted for working against America. See Link # 1 Gatik News
(https://www.wsj.com/articles/upstart-indian-shipper-helps-get-russian-oil-to-market-11674985846)
As India does not recognize US sanctions imposed on Russia, it became the biggest buyer of Russian crude oil. Before the Ukraine war, Russia supplied less than 1 per cent of India’s crude. It now accounts for about 30 per cent, according to official trade statistics. India benefited from millions of barrels of Russian oil, sold at a heavy discount than to other buyers. During the first quarter of 2023, the oil bought by India cost $48.03 per barrel — $10 less than the average paid by other countries, according to Kyiv School of Economics research based on Russian oil sale records. India is leading the group of ‘laundromat countries’ that buy heavily discounted Russian crude oil, refine it, and sell the processed products to European countries, thus sidestepping European & US sanctions against Russia.
Gatik which means “speed” in Sanskrit, was born out of nowhere to become the biggest transporter of Russian oil. Gatik has the postal address of a rundown Neptune Magnet Mall in Mumbai and has become one of the biggest international oil shipping giants in over the past 18 months. It owned only 2 chemical tankers in 2021 and by April 2023 it had a fleet of 58 vessels with over 50 crude oil tankers with an estimated value of over $1.6 billion. Great Eastern Shipping founded in 1948, India’s biggest private ship-owner by fleet size, has 67 ships comprising just 8 crude tankers.
Gatik also shares their Mall office/address with little known Mumbai-registered company Buena Vista Shipping that has an office in Dubai also. Nautical Job boards show the company is recruiting heavily for a variety of roles on the ships in the past year, including chief cooks and oilers. There is no information available about Gatik’s relationship with Buena Vista Shipping and who funded the rapid expansion of Gatik’s fleet is a great mystery for the international oil market.
According to the Indian Register of Shipping data most of Gatik’s ships are managed by Indian firms including Gaurik Ship Management, Geras Ship Management, Caishan Ship Management, Galena Ship Management, Zidan Ship Management and Plutos Ship Management. As per shipping database Equasis, these companies handle safety and environmental-related issues of the vessels while commercial operations are managed by Gatik.
The origins and ownership all the business associated with Gatik are a mystery and no details about the companies could be found on the Indian corporate affairs ministry’s website. But shipbrokers, analysts and commodity traders suspect a link with its biggest client: Rosneft, the Kremlin-controlled and Russia’s biggest crude oil producer. Because Rosneft is selling the cargos on a “Cost Insurance and Freight” basis meaning it is responsible for the delivery of the crude to the destination port in India-rather than the “Free on Board” basis before the Ukraine war, where the buyer was organizing the shipping. See Link # 3 Gatik News
(https://www.ft.com/content/6f81585c-321a-41fb-bcdb-579e93381671)
According to Vessels Value’s Rebecca Galanopoulos out of almost 14,000 live tankers owned by 1,361 companies, 1341 own fewer than 10 live tankers; only 20 companies, including Gatik, own 50 or more. All but two of Gatik’s vessels are registered to single-vessel companies registered in the Marshall Islands and the ownership of those companies is not public. Gatik’s ultimate beneficial owner/owners are unknown. It does not even have a functioning website. It is almost exclusively servicing Russian oil and thus could be an ultimate example of Russian oil companies who would want to get into shipping to evade western sanctions since the Ukraine war.
Gatik had majority of the Ships flagged to St. Kitts & Navis till April 2023. Now it is flagged to Gabon and Mongolia. Most Gatik’s ships do not hold insurance from any of the recognized large mutual providers from European countries. Gatik’s 34 vessels have used the protection and indemnity insurance from the American Club, which belongs to the International Group of PHYPERLINK “https://www.igpandi.org/about/”&HYPERLINK “https://www.igpandi.org/about/”I Clubs that insures most of the global tanker fleet. Lloyd’s Register and the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) had provided safety certification that they have withdrawn recently and now an Indian agency is providing safety certification for most of Gatik’s vessels. See Link # 1 Gatik News
The Honorable Committee must investigate US insurers that were providing insurance to Gatik’s vessels despite sanctions against Russia. The US companies that were providing Safety Certification along with other US companies that was providing any services or goods or technology to Gatik must also be investigated for violating US sanctions against Russia.
Respectfully Submitted
Devendra Makkar
Encls.: Links to News Articles on Adani & Gatik
References to the News Articles about Adani Group of Companies:
- Adani Group: How The World’s 3rd Richest Man Is Pulling The Largest Con In Corporate History
Published on January 24, 2023
https://hindenburgresearch.com/adani/
- ADANI RESPONSE TO HINDENBURG RESEARCH: (413 PAGES)
JAN. 29, 2023
Hindenburg’s actions represent a “calculated attack on India, the independence, integrity, and quality of Indian institutions, and the growth story and ambition of India.”
- Hindenburg Research replied, “Fraud Cannot Be Obfuscated By Nationalism Or A Bloated Response That Ignores Every Key Allegation We Raised.
JAN. 29, 2023
In terms of substance, Adani’s ‘413 page’ response only included about 30 pages focused on issues related to our report. The remainder of the response consisted of 330 pages of court records, along with 53 pages of high-level financials, general information, and details on irrelevant corporate initiatives, such as how it encourages female entrepreneurship and the production of safe vegetables.
Adani Failed To Specifically Answer 62 of Our 88 Questions.
Of The Questions It Did Answer, The Group Largely Confirmed Or Attempted to Sidestep Our Findings
https://hindenburgresearch.com/adani-response/
- The Adani short sale puts investor trust in India in doubt
A rise in jingoistic nationalism has added a new element of impunity to the behavior of some corporate chiefs
26 January 2023, by Andy Mukherjee
https://www.tbsnews.net/bloomberg-special/adani-short-sale-puts-investor-trust-india-doubt-574566
- Hindenburg Gives a Master Class. Adani Flunks
The Indian tycoon’s pulled share sale shows financial globalization can mint centi-billionaires — and cancel them.
Feb. 1, 2023, By Andy Mukherjee
6. Adani Rout Puts Spotlight on Billions Flowing Through Mauritius
March 8, 2023, by Chris Kay
- Why do these foreign funds love Adani Group companies?
Several Mauritius-based investment funds have Gautam Adani-led companies as over 90% of their portfolios. Why?
April 26, 2021, by Jayshree P. Upadhyay
https://themorningcontext.com/business/why-do-these-foreign-funds-love-adani-group-companies
- EXCLUSIVE: How Gujarat Government Helped Adani’s Port Company
Feb. 7, 2020 Dilip Patel , Paranjoy Guha Thakurta
- Probe sought into Adani company’s profits from overpriced, dirty coal.
Feb 10, 2023 Nityanand Jayaraman
- View: Adani (SC) probe will only produce heat, not light
A toothless expert panel looking over the shoulder of a regulator that has its suspicions but no evidence, and no hope of generating any without the help of other sleuthing agencies, means only one thing: No matter how long it goes on, the Adani probe will only produce heat, not light.
May 21, 2023, by Andy Mukherjee
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/company/corporate-trends/view-adani-probe-will-only-produce-heat-not-light/articleshow/100389548.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst
- Deloitte Flags Adani Ports Deals, Cites Need for Review
Auditor spotlights transactions with Hindenburg named firms.
Can’t comment without an external independent review: Deloitte.
May 31, 2023, By Advait Palepu and Chris Kay
- Indian Billionaire Gautam Adani Finds A Savior In The Modi Govt
Adani has, over the years, leased 7,350 hectares–much of which he got from 2005 onward–from the government in Mundra. He got the 30-year, renewable leases for as little as one U.S. cent a square meter (the rate maxed out at 45 cents a square meter). He in turn has sublet this land to other companies, including state-owned Indian Oil Co., for as much as $11 a square meter. Between 2005 and 2007 at least 1,200 hectares of grazing land was taken away from villagers.
Jul 17, 2014, by Meghna Bahree
- Mundra Port: Nearly three tons of heroin seized at Gujarat port
21 September 2021
Indian anti-smuggling intelligence officials have seized nearly three tons of heroin – reportedly worth around $2.7bn (£1.9bn) – in a major operation at a port in Gujarat state.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-58634575
- Heroin Seizures at Adani’s Mundra Remain a Source of Worry for Indian Authorities
Aug. 3, 2022
https://thewire.in/government/heroin-seuzure-adani-mundra-worry-indian-authorities
- The Adani Files (Australia)
A short history of corruption, destruction, and criminal activity.
https://adanifiles.com.au/#crime-corrupt
References to the News Articles about Gatik Ship Management
- Upstart Indian Shipper Helps Get Russian Oil to Market
Russia has successfully managed to keep the country’s oil moving to markets of the world, defying the fears that sanctions levied last month would result in a plunge in the country’s exports. Gatik Ship Management, which took control of 25 tankers after the invasion of Ukraine, now shuttles Russian crude along new trade routes.
By Joe Wallace, Costas Paris and Anna Hirtenstein
Jan. 29, 2023
https://www.wsj.com/articles/upstart-indian-shipper-helps-get-russian-oil-to-market-11674985846
- Indian Shipper Gatik Loses US P&I Insurance
Fri, Apr 14, 2023
By: Simon Martelli, London & Emily Meredith, Washington
https://www.energyintel.com/00000187-81c9-dc4f-a7e7-9bfd941d0003
- The unknown Indian company shipping millions of barrels of Russian oil
Gatik became one of the world’s largest vessel owners in little over a year, transporting crude to India for Rosneft
Tom Wilson and Chris Cook in London,
Chloe Cornish in Mumbai and Anastasia Stognei in Riga
MAY 4, 2023
https://www.ft.com/content/6f81585c-321a-41fb-bcdb-579e93381671
- Exclusive: Lloyd’s Register drops ships of top Indian carrier of Russian oil
By Jonathan Saul and Nidhi Verma
May 25, 2023
- Shadow fleet-linked Gatik reshuffles ships as Indian owner is dumped by Lloyd’s Register
A string of new management companies emerge after operator suffers flag and insurance woes.
26 May 2023
By Paul Peachey in London
- Top shipper of Russian oil secures Indian cover as Western certifiers exit
By Nidhi Verma and Jonathan Saul
May 31, 2023
- India’s Gatik finds alternative to Lloyd’s for vessel registration – report.
May 31, 2023
India’s Gatik Ship Management has found an alternative vessel registrar to the maritime classification society Lloyd’s Register
- Lloyd’s Register in turn excludes the Indian tanker owner Gatik Ship Management
June 2, 2023, By: Adeline Descamps
After the ABS classification society, the P&I American Club and the Saint-Kitts-et-Nevis register, the Lloyd’s Register in turn withdraws its services from Gatik Ship Management.
The Indian shipowner has become one of the most active transporters of Russian crude to India by means of a clandestine fleet.
https://euro.dayfr.com/business/324086.html
Compiled by:
Devendra Makkar
568 Ashwood Rd.
Springfield, NJ 07081
davemakkar@yahoo.com
973 760 6006
CC:
Honorable Maxine Waters Honorable Mike Crapo
Ranking Member Ranking Member
Financial Services Committee Committee on Finance (US Senate)
2221 Rayburn House Office Building 219 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20515 Washington, D.C. 20510
Fax: 202 225 7854 Fax: 202 228 0554
Be the first to comment