Opposition hits out over new Hindenburg report: ‘In true Adani style…’
Hindenburg Research alleged that chairperson of SEBI, and her husband, had stakes in offshore entities linked to the Adani Group's alleged financial misconduct.
The Opposition hit out over the new Hindenburg Research report - which levelled several allegations against the chairperson of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), Madhabi Puri Buch, and her husband - demanding an immediate probe.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh issued a statement on Saturday night on behalf of the grand old party on X, saying that SEBI's “strange reluctance” to investigate the “Adani MegaScam” had been noted for a long time. He also demanded a probe by a Joint Parliamentary Committee.
“SEBI's strange reluctance to investigate the Adani MegaScam has been long noted, not least by the Supreme Court's Expert Committee. That Committee had pointed out in its report that SEBI had in 2018 diluted and, in 2019, entirely deleted the reporting requirements relating to the ultimate beneficial (i.e. actual) ownership of foreign funds,” Ramesh said in the statement.
Also read: Who is Dhaval Buch, SEBI chairperson's husband named in Hindenburg report?
"This had tied its hands to the extent that ‘the securities market regulator suspects wrongdoing, but also finds compliance with various stipulations in attendant regulations... It is this dichotomy that has led to SEBI drawing a blank worldwide,’ according to the Expert Committee," he added.
According to the Congress leader, Hindenburg Research's latest allegation raises fresh questions about Gautam Adani's two 2022 meetings in quick succession with Buch shortly after she was appointed as SEBI chairperson.
Earlier, in another post, Ramesh used the Latin phrase ‘Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes’ (Who will guard the guards themselves) to take a swipe at Madhabi Buch.
Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra also took a dig over the allegations, saying that “in true Adani style, even the SEBI chairman is an investor in his group”.
“Crony Capitalism at its finest,” she wrote on X.
Moitra also demanded that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) investigate alleged money laundering.
What does the new Hindenburg report say?
US-based short seller Hindenburg Research on Saturday alleged that Madhabi Buch, chairperson of SEBI, and her husband Dhaval Buch, had stakes in offshore entities linked to the Adani Group's alleged financial misconduct. The report, citing “whistleblower documents”, claimed that the entities were part of a network used by Vinod Adani, Gautam's elder brother, to “siphon money”.
According to the report, just weeks before Buch’s appointment to SEBI, her husband requested the transfer of their investments into his sole control, potentially to avoid any scrutiny related to her new regulatory role.
"In the letter, Dhaval Buch requested to "be the sole person authorised to operate the Accounts", seemingly moving the assets out of his wife's name ahead of the politically sensitive appointment," it alleged, adding that the couple’s investments were reportedly funnelled through a complex, multi-layered offshore structure, raising questions about their legitimacy and purpose.
The report further mentioned that SEBI's “impartiality” in conducting a probe against Adani Group is ‘questionable’ due to the “potential conflicts of interest”.
Last year in January, Hindenburg Research had accused Gautam Adani of carrying out the ‘biggest con in corporate history’ - a charge denied by him. Later that year, the Supreme Court of India directed SEBI to investigate the allegations against Adani.