At a time when Adani Group shares are enjoying a green phase after bleeding heavily in the first quarter of the year after Hindenburg Research’s report rattled them, fresh trouble seems to be brewing for the Gautam Adani led conglomerate.

Audit giant Deloitte, which is Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone’s auditor, has sounded a note of caution over insufficient disclosures around the company’s transactions with certain entities. This returns the spotlight to the allegations made by short seller Hindenburg Research on Gautam Adani’s empire. For the unversed, Adani Ports is also touted as the Adani group’s 'crown jewel'.

Deloitte Haskins & Sells LLP raised concerns this week over the Adani Group Company’s transactions with three entities, which the company said were unrelated parties. But the auditor said it couldn’t confirm that the parties were indeed unrelated and that the firm has refused to get an independent external examination that would help prove so. It therefore signed off on the company’s books only with what’s called a “qualified opinion”, as per the Bloomberg report.

Noting that “the evaluation performed by the group does not constitute sufficient appropriate audit evidence for the purpose of the audit,” Deloitte said that it can’t comment if the company was fully compliant with local laws.

First & Only Adani Auditor To Raise Concerns

This is the first time that a major auditor has issued a qualified opinion on part of the conglomerate’s books, citing allegations from Hindenburg's report that wiped more than $100 billion off the Adani group’s market value. This move by Deloitte will reportedly renew concerns that information gaps persist in Adani’s financial dealings and risks hampering its attempts to move past Hindenburg’s allegations of extensive corporate fraud.

Deloitte is also the only Adani Group auditor to raise concerns over the nature of specific transactions as part of its qualified opinion, whereas other auditors only cited the ongoing investigation by the Securities and Exchange Board of India as the basis for their opinion.