Hindenburg on Madhabi Puri Buch: Controversial American short seller firm Hindenburg Research has again targeted market regulator SEBI’s chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch. Hindenburg Research has raised questions about this on social media and asked why the SEBI chief is silent even after many allegations of irregularities have been made recently.
Hindenburg’s attack on SEBI chief Madhabi Puri Buch comes a day after the main opposition party Congress levelled fresh allegations against the regulator’s chief. In the latest allegations, the Congress says that a consultancy company promoted by Madhabi Puri Buch received payments worth crores of rupees when she had become a full-time member of the SEBI board.
The main opposition party Congress made these new allegations
According to Congress, about Rs 3 crore was paid to the consultancy company promoted by the SEBI chief. Most of those payments came from Mahindra & Mahindra. Congress says that this is a case of criminal conspiracy. At the time when Madhabi Puri Buch was a full-time member of SEBI and the regulator was investigating cases against the Mahindra Group, payments were made to Agora Advisory Private Limited, in which Buch holds 99 percent shares. This becomes a case of conflict of interest under Section 5 of the SEBI Code.
According to Congress, Butch’s company received this payment
According to the Congress, out of the Rs 2.95 crore payment received by Agora Advisory between 2016 and 2024, Rs 2.59 crore came from Mahindra & Mahindra. Madhabi Buch’s husband Dhawal Buch received Rs 4.78 crore in personal capacity from the Mahindra Group. Agora’s other clients include Dr Reddy’s, Pidilite, ICICI Bank, Sembcorp and Visu Leasing and Finance. Many of these companies are listed on the stock market.
Mahindra and Dr Reddy’s denied the allegations
After the allegations of Congress, statements have come from Mahindra & Mahindra and Dr. Reddy’s. Both the corporates have termed the allegations of the Congress party as misleading and have completely denied them. Congress had earlier also accused the SEBI chief of irregularities in payments made by his former employer ICICI Bank, which was denied by ICICI Bank.
Hindenburg raised questions on the silence of SEBI chief
Hindenburg has posted on the social media platform X regarding these allegations. It has written- The new allegations that have come to light show that SEBI Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch’s private consulting company, in which she has 99 percent shareholding, was taking payments from many listed companies when she was a full-time member of SEBI. The companies include Mahindra & Mahindra, ICICI Bank, Dr. Reddy’s and Pidilite. These allegations are about Buch’s Indian consulting company. No details have been revealed about his Singapore-based consulting company. These cases have been coming to light for several weeks, but Buch is maintaining complete silence.
SEBI Chairperson Madhabi Buch’s response to our report includes several important admissions and raises numerous new critical questions.
(1/x) https://t.co/Usk0V6e90K
— Hindenburg Research (@HindenburgRes) August 11, 2024
Hindenburg released this report last month
SEBI Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch’s troubles started with Hindenburg. Hindenburg Research had again released a report against the Adani Group last month. In that report, Hindenburg had questioned SEBI’s ongoing investigation against the Adani Group. It had alleged that the SEBI chief and her husband have a commercial relationship with the Adani Group. At that time, Madhabi Buch and her husband had issued a joint statement rejecting Hindenburg’s allegations and calling it an attempt to tarnish credibility. The Adani Group had also issued a statement denying any commercial relationship with the SEBI chief or her husband.
Also read: SEBI Chairperson’s troubles are going to increase, PAC will investigate all the allegations including corruption, summons will be received soon
