Pandemic of Ignorance, Stupidity and Corrupt Reporting in Business Media

Who got 553 Million USD loan from US international Development Finance Corporation?

 If you follow Indian Media and Indian Press, you would think that you know the answer and its Adani group . 

Well, you would be dead WRONG.

 If you think, such skewed and falsified Reporting lead to Adani buying back their own shares through proxies and shell companies to jack up their share prices and Standards & Poor managed Sensex jumping up to record levels .. Well , don't lie, you haven't had any such thoughts ,  before you read this post.

Metamorphosis of News to Bad News to Fake News

Lazy Reporting Event Number 1 : Reuters

 

What Reuters should have mentioned that although proposed Colombo container terminal is managed by Adani Ports, the company is a separate entity with a separate name and separate business address in Sri Lanka. 

Colombo West International Terminal Private Limited

Somewhere down in last paragraph,  Reuters managed to mention that Adani group owns 51% stake in this venture and reluctantly mentioned the name of John Keells Limited ( actually its John Keells Holdings Limited) and Sri Lanka's Government has major shares in it.

We know the shareholding pattern of Colombo West International Terminal (CWIT) well before Reuters wrote the post (Sorry boys, it wasn't detailed enough to be called as News Article); it was reported in November 2022, what the shareholdings are:

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) : 51%

John Keells Holdings (This is one of largest Srilankan conglomerate and it is S&P Sri Lanka Stock market index) : 34%

Sri Lanka Port Authority, fully Government owned : 15%

Bloomberg did a hachet reporting job as Well..

 

Maybe Michael Bloomberg has been getting a series of bad fortune cookies from the Chinese, so Bloomberg declared entire Colombo port as Adani's personal port.

Perhaps Bloomberg doesn't understand the difference between a port and a container terminal.

 Bloomberg doesn't even know that DFC loan is specially earmarked for transhipment facilities on Colombo West International Terminal, well DFC released a 6 page pdf on the loan but if they had to read that, wouldn't that be an insult to their official employee dogtags that hung on their shoulders?

Did any of the media report that the loan is for a 20 year period? DFC chief Scott Nathan expects that both Joe Biden and himself would be dead and buried by then!

Had they read the ridiculous DFC report, they would have noticed "Deep Water Container Terminal" is flawed from beginning..

Now this project was 789 million USD project last year, now cost has gone up to 851 million or what? DFC loan adds the total loan (they call it Funding) to 851 million? 

Or is additional 62 million is DFC's Kickback?

Although DFC outlines, various risk assessments in its report but nowhere did they mention Hindenburg research..

Here I give you the proof, Hindenburg research is not found in PDF document..

DFC went on to list Marine Ecology, Effects of Dredging, Contacts with Fishermen as potential risks and social impacts in flimsy terms and glossing over the reality. 

This transhipment pipedream is as much unrealistic as Chinese transhipment mega project failure in Sri Lanka. That's besides the point, when this project fails, neither Indian billionaire Adani nor would Sri Lankan Millionaires in John Keells Holdings would pay the loan back.. the burden would fall squarely on ordinary folks there, for that meagre 15% stake of their government.

 

In fact, DFC report does not mention Adani by name even once in their 6 page pdf. 

 

Enter The Fake News Maestro: Bloomberg,  the iceberg that one day would sink the titanic of truth.

We have seen that original DFC document does not mention either Adani or Hindenburg by name, yet Bloomberg manages to catch hold of a sixth cousin twice removed relative of DFC to say, this fake news.

It is well known in diplomatic circles that all DFC loans are geopolitical kickbacks and they never achieve their publicised goals. But Bloomberg would never say that..

The shitstorm such bad fake news spawn and derivative news article, results into further worsening fake news..

Should I laugh or should I cry at this fake news?

Conclusion:

Based on Such bad news, Adani stocks are rebounding like crazy, while India's currency continues to tank against US dollar. 

What would you do? Cheer on fraud Billionaires as stock market rises? Or lament on the demise of Indian rupee and look helplessly on real inflation that refuse to show on official records but effects your daily life in India anyway.