Two Mauritius Companies that Invested in Adani Group were under tax scanner in India

“The wire” has highlighted that the Indian Express reported the following:-

• Two Mauritius companies which found mention in Hindenburg Research’s report on Adani Group were on the radar of Indian tax authorities for over a decade,
• https://hindenburgresearch.com/adani/

The two funds are

• Mavi Investment Fund Ltd (now APMS Investment Fund Ltd) and
• Lotus Global Investment Limited.

The newspaper reported The Mauritius Revenue Authority (MRA) had sent a notice to

• Mavi Investment Fund in September 2012. It had asked the company to share information with the Indian tax authorities under the Direct Tax Avoidance Agreement,
• Lotus Global Investment received a similar notice from MRA in July 2014 to share “information… for onward transmission to the Indian Tax Authorities”,

In its report, Hindenburg Research named five Mauritius entities –

• APMS Investment Fund (earlier Mavi Investments),
• Albula Investment Fund,
• Cresta Fund,
• LTS Investment Fund and
• Lotus Global Investment Fund.

It said that these funds are under the control of an alleged “stock parking entity”

• Monterosa Investment Holdings (BVI).

These funds have invested in the Adani Group companies for over a decade. However, ownership details of these firms are unknown.

The Indian Express reported that in 2012, Mavi was asked to

• Provide ownership details, bank statements from April 2007 to March 2010 and
• Confirm if the company invested in Delphi Investment Ltd leading to investments in Etisalat DB Telecom Pvt Ltd (formerly Swan Telecom Private Limited) as part of the 2G scam probe.

In response,

• Mavi named 11 entities in Ireland, Cayman and Bermuda as beneficiaries.
• Mavi had refused to name the beneficial owners of the fund to SEBI in 2013 saying that its investors were banks and financial institutions who “have a large number of investors who keep changing on a day-to-day basis.”
• The report added that these documents were part of offshore legal services provider Appleby’s internal records.

Timeline

• In September 2013, SEBI lifted the ban it had imposed on Mavi in September 2011 after it had failed to establish charges of market manipulations, the report said.
• In July 2014, MRA asked Lotus Global to furnish audited financial statements for the years 2006 to 2012. This is the period when Lotus Global held stakes in Adani companies.
• According to the report, Lotus Global was asked to submit details of shareholders and beneficial owner/s, number of employees, bank statements for the period April 2000 to March 2013, sources of credits and details of debit entries in the bank accounts. However, executives and lawyers of Monterosa, Appleby and associated entities decided to petition the Supreme Court of Mauritius to prevent any attempt to extract information directly from the banks where Lotus Global held accounts.
• Records seen by IE show that in August 2010, Appleby billed Monterosa for amending and recording fund documents related to Lotus, Mavi, Cresta, among others, “so that there is only one common portfolio of assets for the SEBI declaration/undertaking.”
• While Lotus Global started investing in Adani Group companies in 2005, Mavi began investing in Adani Enterprise Limited in 2006 and exited last year.

The report said Lotus Global

• Sold its entire stake in Adani Power Limited to Vinod Adani, Gautam Adani’s elder brother, in 2013.
• Sold its stake in APL in December 2009 to Albula (Mauritius).
• Stake in AEL was gradually diluted from a high of 4.51% in 2008 until it exited in the second quarter of 2010,

Source

https://thewire.in/business/two-offshore-companies-that-invested-in-adani-group-were-under-tax-scanner-in-india-report