SEBI chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch stated on Friday that she has adhered to all disclosure and recusal guidelines by the markets regulator. Buch has been criticized by Hindenburg Research and opposition political parties over alleged conflicts of interest in investigations involving the Adani Group and other corporations.
SEBI chief also clarified that she never handled Agora Advisory, Agora Partners, Mahindra Group, Pidilite, DRL or ICICI files after joining SEBI.
She added that the allegations are completely false, malicious and derogatory. Buch also denied allegations regarding rental income from Wockhardt Associates and ICICI Bank ESOPs.
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“Right from 2017, when Madhabi joined SEBI as a Whole Time Member, she had disclosed the fact of her shareholding in Agora Advisory as well as in Agora Partners," Madhabi and her husband Dhaval Buch said in a joint statement.
Addressing the allegations regarding holding ESOPs while serving at SEBI, the couple said SEBI’s guidelines permit board members, including the Chairperson, to hold and transact in ESOPs after making requisite disclosures and recusals.
“Madhabi had disclosed her ESOP holdings since 2017 when she first joined SEBI, and disclosed each subsequent transaction. This forms a part of contemporaneous official records of SEBI,” it said.
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“The fact that so far, allegations are being made with new falsehoods each time, in instalments, makes it clear that the only intention is to keep distorting facts, to keep making false allegations again and again to build a false narrative. Clearly, arriving at the truth is not the objective,” the couple said.
On Wednesday, Hindenburg stated that SEBI chief has remained completely silent for weeks regarding all the emerging issues.
Earlier on Tuesday, the opposition party Congress alleged that Buch and her husband had earned crores of rupees from six publicly listed companies, including Mahindra and Mahindra. It also claimed that despite her claim that the advisory company she owns became inactive after she joined SEBI, Agora Private Ltd continued to operate and earned revenue of Rs 2.95 crore between 2016 and 2024.
Last month, Hindenburg alleged that Madhabi and Dhaval Buch, held stakes in "the obscure offshore entities involved in the Adani money siphoning scandal." The allegations were based on documents provided by a whistleblower and investigations conducted by other organizations, according to Hindenburg Research.
