Lord Jo Johnson, younger brother of former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, has bowed out of a high-profile role with a global investment bank that reportedly has links to the Adani empire.
Since June, the former Conservative peer had acted as a director for Elara Capital, a self-proclaimed "full service investment bank," which was founded in 2002 with the aim of "raising funds for Indian corporates through GDR’s, FCCB’s and the London AIM market.”
The organization has recently become embroiled in the struggles of the business empire of Indian tycoon Gautam Adani. The Adani Group was the subject of a 100-page report by short seller Hindenburg Research last month containing allegations of stock manipulation and accounting fraud by Adani entities added more fuel to selling.
According to reporting from the Financial Times, it is Elara's asset management arm which first caught the eye of Hindenburg researchers, as the vast majority of its holdings were with Adani Enterprises. Hindenberg's report alleges that Mauritius-based funds run by Elara were part of a plot to conceal the family's ownership of Adani Group listed companies as well as manipulate their stock prices.
In its report, Hindenburg quoted two unnamed former Elara traders who alleged that the routing of transactions through Mauritius-based funds was designed to obscure who was ultimately behind them.
The Adani Group has strenuously denied all of Hindenburg’s allegations, adding Hindenberg's conduct was “nothing short of calculated securities fraud,” and stated that the research company was attacking India as a whole in its 443-page rebuttal.
It also categorically denied any relationship with Elara Capital Funds. “Innuendoes that they are in any manner related parties of the promoters are incorrect,” the Adani Group wrote.
In a statement to Fortune Lord Jo Johnson of Marylebone said: "I joined the board of Elara Capital, an India-focused investment firm based in London, as an independent non-executive director last June in the hope of making a contribution to UK-India trade and investment ties, which I have long supported and co-written a book about.
"I have consistently received assurances from Elara Capital that it is compliant with its legal obligations and in good standing with regulatory bodies. At the same time, I now recognize that this is a role that requires greater domain expertise in specialized areas of financial regulation than I anticipated and, accordingly, I have resigned from the board."
Johnson had been hailed as a luminary in the technology and education space when he joined the board at Elara Capital. At the time of his appointment, Elara Capital chairman Raj Bhatt said: "It is an honor for us to have Jo Johnson join our board. Elara Capital will benefit from Jo's experience and also seek his guidance on investments in interesting growth sectors like technology and education."
Johnson is not the only British expert Elara managed to attract. Renowned economist Lord Meghnad Desai also sits as a non-executive director at the firm. He told the Financial Times the allegations against Adani are “very vague” but he had approached Bhatt and the Mauritian financial regulator for further insight.
Elara Capital did not immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment.
What has happened to Adani since the report came out?
Adani Enterprises Ltd. was slated to make a follow-on public offer on billions worth of shares, or FPO on Wednesday, but decided not to go through with it at the last minute.
The flagship firm said in the statement it was pulling the deal to insulate investors in the offering from potential losses. Adani himself later released a video statement this week, saying that it would not be “morally correct” to proceed with the sale considering the “volatility” of the market.
The decision came after a slump in price for the company and sister firms. The plunge accelerated after Bloomberg News reported Credit Suisse Group AG has stopped accepting bonds of Adani’s group of companies as collateral for margin loans to its private banking clients.
The company’s stock closed Wednesday at 2,135.35 rupees, or 31% below the bottom of the price range, meaning any investor in the share sale would be sitting on immediate losses. Adani’s empire has suffered stock losses of more than $100 billion since the Hindenburg report was released.
