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MSCI drops two Adani Group companies from India index

Global stock index compiler MSCI has removed Adani Total Gas and Adani Transmission from its India index due to their failure to meet market capitalization requirements. This comes after the Adani Group faced allegations of market manipulation, causing a significant decline in share prices.

Adani Enterprises is set to consider raising funds through share sales or other securities, while the Indian Supreme Court is considering an extension of the probe into the manipulation allegations.

The Adani Group’s shares have partially recovered but remain significantly below pre-allegation levels. Gautam Adani’s ranking on Forbes’ billionaires list has also dropped.

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MUMBAI, INDIA — Global stock index compiler MSCI has dropped two firms in the embattled Adani Group from its India index, in a blow to the conglomerate months after it was hit with market manipulation allegations.

US-based MSCI said in a statement on Friday that Adani Total Gas and Adani Transmission — part of the business empire of Indian billionaire Gautam Adani — would be deleted from its India Domestic Index at the close of trading on 31 May.

MSCI said it assessed the two firms “will not meet the relevant free float-adjusted market capitalisation requirements”, referring to shares that can be bought on public stock markets by international investors.

Share prices in the two listed entities fell during early trading in Mumbai on Friday, with Adani Total Gas hitting its lower limit of 5.0 per cent while Adani Transmission dropped by 3.80 per cent.

The decision came two days after flagship Adani Enterprises said its board would meet on Saturday to consider raising funds through a sale of shares or other securities.

India’s Supreme Court was due to hear a petition on Friday from securities regulator SEBI requesting a six-month extension of its probe into the manipulation allegations.

US short-seller investment group Hindenburg Research accused the Adani Group in January of using offshore tax havens to manipulate stock prices.

The allegations wiped out up to US$120 billion in value from the Adani Group, which abruptly cancelled a stock sale.

The group’s shares have recovered slightly since then, but shares in its flagship unit Adani Enterprises remain at around half of their value before the claims were published.

Adani has repeatedly denied the allegations and accused the US investment firm of a “maliciously mischievous” reputational attack.

Gautam Adani fell from third to 24th on Forbes’ real-time billionaires’ list after the stock market rout.

— AFP

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AFP

Singapore hangs 14th drug convict since last year

Singapore executed Mohd Aziz bin Hussain, convicted of drug trafficking, amid a resumption of executions in 2022. Another woman prisoner, Saridewi Djamani, faces execution.

Amnesty International urged Singapore to halt the executions, questioning the deterrent effect of the death penalty.

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26 July 2023

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SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE — Singapore on Wednesday hanged a local man convicted of drug trafficking, officials said, two days before the scheduled execution of the first woman prisoner in the city-state in nearly 20 years.

Mohd Aziz bin Hussain, convicted and sentenced to death in 2017 for trafficking “not less than 49.98 grams” (1.76 ounces) of heroin, was executed at Changi Prison, the Central Narcotics Bureau said in a statement.

The 57-year-old was the 14th convict sent to the gallows since the government resumed executions in March 2022 after a two-year pause during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Hussain’s previous appeals against his conviction and sentence had been dismissed, and a petition for presidential clemency was also denied.

A woman drug convict, 45-year-old Saridewi Djamani, is scheduled to be hanged on Friday, according to the local rights group Transformative Justice Collective (TJC).

She was sentenced to death in 2018 for trafficking around 30 grams of heroin.

If carried out, Djamani would be the first woman executed in Singapore since 2004, when 36-year-old hairdresser Yen May Woen was hanged for drug trafficking, according to TJC activist Kokila Annamalai.

Singapore has some of the world’s toughest anti-drug laws — trafficking more than 500 grams of cannabis or over 15 grams of heroin can result in the death penalty.

Rights watchdog Amnesty International on Tuesday urged Singapore to halt the executions, saying there was no evidence the death penalty acted as a deterrent to crime.

“It is unconscionable that authorities in Singapore continue to cruelly pursue more executions in the name of drug control,” Amnesty death penalty expert Chiara Sangiorgio said in a statement.

Singapore, however, insists that the death penalty has helped make it one of Asia’s safest countries.

Among those hanged since last year was Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam, whose execution sparked a global outcry, including from the United Nations and British tycoon Richard Branson, because he was deemed to have a mental disability.

— AFP

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AFP

Singapore to execute first woman in nearly 20 years: rights groups

Singapore set to execute two drug convicts, including first woman in 20 years, despite rights groups’ calls to stop.

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25 July 2023

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SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE — Singapore is set to hang two drug convicts this week, including the first woman to be sent to the gallows in nearly 20 years, rights groups said Tuesday, while urging the executions be halted.

Local rights organisation Transformative Justice Collective (TJC) said a 56-year-old man convicted of trafficking 50 grams (1.76 ounces) of heroin is scheduled to be hanged on Wednesday at the Southeast Asian city-state’s Changi Prison.

A 45-year-old woman convict who TJC identified as Saridewi Djamani is also set to be sent to the gallows on Friday. She was sentenced to death in 2018 for trafficking around 30 grams of heroin.

If carried out, she would be the first woman to be executed in Singapore since 2004 when 36-year-old hairdresser Yen May Woen was hanged for drug trafficking, said TJC activist Kokila Annamalai.

TJC said the two prisoners are Singaporeans and their families have received notices setting the dates of their executions.

Prison officials have not answered emailed questions from AFP seeking confirmation.

Singapore imposes the death penalty for certain crimes, including murder and some forms of kidnapping.

It also has some of the world’s toughest anti-drug laws: trafficking more than 500 grams of cannabis and 15 grams of heroin can result in the death penalty.

At least 13 people have been hanged so far since the government resumed executions following a two-year hiatus in place during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Rights watchdog Amnesty International on Tuesday urged Singapore to halt the impending executions.

“It is unconscionable that authorities in Singapore continue to cruelly pursue more executions in the name of drug control,” Amnesty’s death penalty expert Chiara Sangiorgio said in a statement.

“There is no evidence that the death penalty has a unique deterrent effect or that it has any impact on the use and availability of drugs.

“As countries around the world do away with the death penalty and embrace drug policy reform, Singapore’s authorities are doing neither,” Sangiorgio added.

Singapore insists that the death penalty is an effective crime deterrent.

— AFP

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