ADAG blames rivals, bear cartel for stock plunge

New Delhi, Feb 10 (PTI) Hit hard by heavy plunge in its
group stocks, Anil Ambani group Thursday blamed 'corporate
rivals' and a cartel of market manipulators for causing panic
among investors and sought an immediate probe into the matter.
Seeking to assuage concerns of its over 11 million
investors, the group also said it has been a victim of the
illegal bear cartel that destroyed market value of a
staggering over Rs 3,00,000 crore for the infrastructure
sector in past few weeks.
Terming the infrastructure sector as "the highest
priority for the country," the group MD Gautam Doshi said in a
conference call that ADAG has sought immediate probe into the
matter.
"We have written to SEBI, the stock exchanges, and
intelligence agencies to immediately investigate these
concerted efforts to destabilise the capital markets, and
create panic amongst investors," he said.
The comments came a day after the group stocks fell by up
to 19 per cent, causing a market value loss of over Rs 11,000
crore in a single day.
The group stocks, however, Thursday bounced back, defying
the overall bearish sentiment in the broader market and surged
by up to 11 per cent in early trade.
Reliance Infrastructure, which shed 25.14 per cent in
Wednesday's session, shot up by 10.97 per cent Thursday
morning.
Another major gainer from the Anil Ambani camp was
Reliance Communications, which advanced by 7.22 per cent to an
early peak of Rs 101.70, after hitting a record low of Rs 90.
80 yesterday.
Shares of Reliance Broadcast Network also went up by 5.
37 per cent, while Reliance Capital jumped by 10.51 per cent,
Reliance MediaWorks by 9.31 per cent and Reliance Power by 5.
3 per cent Thursday.
Speaking about Wednesday's sharp plunge, Doshi said: "A
series of completely false and baseless rumors against our
Group have been circulated yesterday by our corporate rivals
and an illegal bear cartel."
"The market regulatory authorities are equipped with the
most advanced electronic surveillance systems, and we are
confident this deliberate pattern of price hammering and
manipulation will quickly be exposed," he said.
Doshi also said the group companies, Reliance Infra and
RNRL, as well as their statutory auditors, have not received
any notice from auditing regulator Institute of Chartered
Accountants of India with regard to the consent settlement
reached by the two companies with Securities and Exchange
Board of India.
However, he added that the ICAI had "simply asked for
copies of audited Balance Sheets, which are already in the
public domain, and have been circulated to over 1.5 million
shareholders."
"ICAI has also desired to know why Reliance Infra has
chosen to implement a policy of rotation of statutory
auditors," Doshi said.
"It has been explained to ICAI that this policy,
voluntarily adopted by Reliance Infra, is recommended by the
Ministry of Corporate Affairs. This policy is also entirely in
line with international best practice," Doshi added.
"We are surprised at the distorted reporting in a section
of the media, attributing certain observations to the ICAI.
Reliance Infra has not received any queries from ICAI on its
accounts for any year," he said.
"Reliance Infra intends to take the strongest legal action
against any irresponsible and defamatory media reports on
these and related matter," Doshi warned.
He said that Reliance Infra would continue to co-operate
with ICAI and respond to any queries, if and when raised.
"At the same time, we would urge discretion to be
maintained by a professional body like ICAI, especially in
relation to price sensitive comments and observations to the
media," he added.
Following the debacle on the bourses, the group had
issued a statement Wednesday also and alleged that "a series
of completely baseless and motivated rumours have been spread
today by our unscrupulous corporate rivals."
"This (rumour-mongering by rivals) has been accompanied
by vicious and illegal bear-hammering of our listed stocks to
create panic and destabilise the markets," the group had said.
"We have made a formal complaint to SEBI and the stock
exchanges to immediately investigate these illegal trades and
take appropriate action to safeguard the interests of our over
11 million investors," it added. PTI BJ
SAK