George Soros is a Hungarian-American businessman.
The government today slammed billionaire philanthropist George Soros over his remarks criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi and raising questions on Hindenburg Research’s report on industrialist Gautam Adani’s empire.
Here are 10 points on George Soros:
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The 92-year-old philanthropist is one of the wealthiest men in the world. He was born into a prosperous Jewish family that left Hungary (when he was 17) when the Nazis arrived, according to Encyclopaedia Britannica. In 1947, they reached London, where Mr Soros studied philosophy at the London School of Economics.
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After his studies, he joined the London merchant bank Singer & Friedlander. In 1956, Mr Soros moved to New York, where he worked initially as an analyst of European securities, as per Encyclopaedia Britannica.
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Mr Soros made his mark in the financial world by making bold investment decisions after establishing a hedge fund in 1973. He managed client money from 1969 to 2011. As per Forbes, Mr Soros shorted the British pound and reportedly made a profit of $1 billion. He became known as the man who broke the Bank of England, the outlet further said.
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Bloomberg said Mr Soros has a net worth of $8.5 billion and is the founder of Open Society Foundations, which gives grants to groups and individuals that promote democracy, transparency and freedom of speech. After the end of the Cold War, Mr Soros established these foundations more than 70 countries. He has also been involved in political activism, and supported the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden.
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According to Bloomberg, he is also believed to be one of the main protagonists of the Asian financial crisis, which started in Thailand in 1997, leading to the collapse of its currency the baht, and spread to several other countries. South Korea, Indonesia and Thailand were most affected by it. Hong Kong, Laos, Malaysia and the Philippines were also hurt by the slump. Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad accused Mr Soros of ruining the country’s economy with “massive currency speculation”.
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Mr Soros made the comments that have infuriated the government during a speech ahead of the Munich security conference. He highlighted the recent Adani Group crisis and said PM Modi “has to answer questions” from foreign investors and Parliament on allegations of fraud and stock manipulation against the billionaire’s companies.
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He also said that the this will “significantly weaken Modi’s stranglehold on India’s federal government” and open the door to push for much-needed institutional reforms. “I may be naive, but I expect a democratic revival in India,” said Mr Soros.
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Union minister Smriti Irani called it an “attack on India that would not be tolerated” and called upon Indians to unitedly respond to “foreign powers who try to intervene in India’s democratic processes”. She also called the billionaire a “designated economic war criminal”.
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The opposition has been targeting the BJP-led government at the Centre, accusing it of favouritism and crony capitalism. They had even raised the issue during the budget session of Parliament demanding a joint parliamentary committee probe. Union Home Minister Amit Shah had said in an interview with news agency ANI that there is nothing “for the BJP to hide or be afraid of”.
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The ports-to-energy Adani Group – controlled by billionaire Gautam Adani, one of the world’s richest people – has seen shares in its seven companies lose billions in market value since the January 24 report by US-based short-seller Hindenburg Research, which accused it of improper use of offshore tax havens and stock manipulation. Mr Adani has strongly denied the charges, calling it a “maliciously mischievous” reputational attack.
(Disclaimer: New Delhi Television is a subsidiary of AMG Media Networks Limited, an Adani Group Company.)
