Congress hits out at SEBI chief with fresh allegations
The Congress on Tuesday renewed its attack on Securities Exchange Board of India (Sebi) chief Madhabi Puri Buch, alleging that she rented out one of her properties to a company owned by someone associated with the top management of financial conglomerate Indiabulls.
The Congress on Tuesday renewed its attack on Securities Exchange Board of India (Sebi) chief Madhabi Puri Buch, alleging that she rented out one of her properties to a company owned by someone associated with the top management of financial conglomerate Indiabulls. The party also accused Buch of holding shares in unlisted companies named in the so-called Paradise Papers.
The Sebi chief has denied any wrongdoing.
“Ms Madhabi Buch owns another flat in Mumbai. In 2021-22, she earned rental income from a property rented out to a company called Green World Buildcon and Infra Private Limited, owned by Mukul and Vipul Bansal. Mukul Bansal has a significant background with Indiabulls Group,” Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said at a press conference in Delhi.
The Sebi chief is under fire over US short-seller Hindenburg Research’s report that alleged that she and her husband Dhaval Buch owned stakes in offshore entities linked to businessman Vinod Adani.
The couple, however, had dismissed the allegations saying, “Our life and finances are an open book. All disclosures as required have already been furnished to Sebi over the years. We have no hesitation in disclosing any and all financial documents, including those that relate to the period when we were strictly private citizens, to any and every authority that may seek them. Further, in the interest of complete transparency, we would be issuing a detailed statement in due course.”
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The Congress leader also added that Buch was among the initial shareholders of Predible Health, which received funds from the central government, and continued to hold equity in the company while being a SEBI member. Among other investors was Jacesa Investments Limited , named in the l Paradise Papers, with an address in St. Vincent in The Caribbean, infamous for being a tax haven, he added.
“This was discovered in 2017. Despite that, Buch held the company’s equity (Predible Health) till 2021… She sold her stake to a US company making a return of almost 226 times,” Khera said.
There was no immediate response from Sebi on the allegations.
The Paradise Papers are millions of documents on offshore investments that were leaked in 2017.
Khera also repeated older allegations on Buch continuing to earn a salary from ICICI while at Sebi, although both ICICI and Buch have clarified that these were deferred payouts.
The Congress has been targeting Buch over Sebi’s clean chit to the Adani Group in the wake of a report from US-based short seller Hindenburg Research on how it used a network of shell companies to bypass stock exchange regulations. The short seller itself also targeted Buch in a report dated August 10 t that claimed she and her husband invested in the same offshore fund as “ Vinod Adani, brother of Gautam Adani”.
Rejecting the allegations, Sebi has said that it has conducted thorough investigations on the claims made against the Adani Group and referred to the Supreme Court’s acknowledgement of the completion of the probe.
In a joint statement earlier, both Madhabi and her husband Dhawal Buch have refuted allegations made by the short-seller as “baseless allegations and insinuations” .
“Our life and finances are an open book. All disclosures as required have already been furnished to SEBI over the years. We have no hesitation in disclosing any and all financial documents, including those that relate to the period when we were strictly private citizens, to any and every authority that may seek them. Further, in the interest of complete transparency,” they said in a statement dated September 13.
On Tuesday, Khera also claimed that Ananth Narayan, a whole-time member of Sebi, handed over his Mumbai property to a stockbroker while heading the Market Intermediaries Regulation and Supervisory Department (MIRSD) responsible for regulating stockbrokers, violating the regulator’s rules. Narayan allegedly holds 1 lakh shares of a company named Proud Securities and Credits Pvt Ltd (now Incred Capital) the current value of which is ₹70 crore.
“This raises the question of whether the selection committee was aware of Mr. Narayan’s shareholding in Incred at the time of his appointment,” Khera said.
In a statement, Narayan said: “...To reiterate, industry professionals entering regulatory roles can be expected to bring in accumulated assets and investments. In my case, I have ensured that all such assets and investments are fully and proactively disclosed to SEBI, and any potential conflicts are preemptively managed through disclosure and recusal.”