The Big Picture

Vincent Boland: Asia’s richest man must prove that he is not sitting on a massive financial scam

A probe into the Adani Group led by Indian multibillionaire Gautam Adani and what is alleged by Hindenburg Research to be ‘the largest con in corporate history’ must be taken if that country is to save its reputation in the corporate world

Gautam Adani, multibillionaire and founder of the Adani Group: the Indian conglomerate had a stock market value of about $220 billion until Hindenburg Research claimed it was ‘the largest con in corporate history’. Picture: Bloomberg

Not since Elon Musk squandered part of his fortune in the past few weeks trying to figure out why he bought Twitter has a tycoon lost so much money in so short a time as Gautam Adani.

The multibillionaire founder of India’s Adani Group, a sprawling conglomerate with interests from energy to infrastructure, was Asia’s richest person a month ago. The companies he controls had a stock market value of about $220 billion. Now, almost ...