New financial analysis reveals how one of Barclays’ darling clients, Adani Green Energy, is reportedly involved in yet another fraud scandal, and the bank’s financing could have helped them get there.
In the past, the Adani Group is been involved in violations of human rights, shocking cases of environmental destruction, doing business with criminal juntas, plans to mine billions of tons of coal beneath ancestral forests in India, rampant exploitation of its workforce, and more recently, financial fraud and stock price manipulation.
The new allegations don’t come from green groups, but serious activist investors Snowcap. They’ve been digging into Adani Green Energy’s (AGEL) accounts and things aren’t quite adding up. The company could be in serious insolvency trouble.
They say the company is fudging its earnings and generally inflating its financial health, which unsurprisingly is a form of investor fraud. AGEL has attracted a lot of interest from financial institutions recently on the basis that it can help grow renewable energy production in India. But these new findings cast major doubt on AGEL’s ability even to achieve its 45GW renewable energy target, given that the company’s strong earnings and growth potential are a mere façade.
So where does Barclays come in?
Just last month Barclays was a front runner in helping AGEL to raise green cash, which is money to be spent on green projects. And Barclays has been there every step of the way with the Adani Group, wracked by innumerable fraud and corruption scandals, cheerleading for the company with investors to help them raise money through the issuance of bonds.
In response to @AdaniGreen‘s fraud and lies, we have sent letters to investors and banks calling on them to immediately drop Adani.
If @SnowCapResearch, @HindenburgRes, @OCCRP can spot the risks in Adani, why can’t banks & investors?https://t.co/hNy0uOTCez pic.twitter.com/q02qgXMwnm
— Toxic Bonds (@toxic_bonds) May 30, 2024
This poses an awkward question for anyone in bed with Adani Green, like Barclays. What due diligence, if any, did they do before jumping into deals with AGEL? Did anyone raise any red flags at all?
Bewilderingly, the Science Museum in the UK is also blithely accepting donations from the alleged criminal enterprise for its exhibition on climate change, and has faced unrelenting calls to end the partnership.
The question now falls on those propping up AGEL and facilitating its corrupt tricks and climate crimes, like banks and investors. If they don’t distance themselves quickly, they could end up being dragged through the courts to answer for their role in this web of lies.