Sebi chief on Adani link claims in Hindenburg report: Character assassination

Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband have rejected.

The allegations levelled against them by US short-seller Hindenburg that they had stakes in obscure offshore funds used in the ‘Adani money siphoning scandal’, calling it an attempt of “character assassination”.

In a joint statement, Madhabi Puri Buch and Dhaval Buch said the allegations were “baseless” and “devoid of any truth”, and asserted that their finances were an open book.

“In the context of allegations made in the Hindenburg Report dated August 10, 2024, against us, we would like to state that we strongly deny the baseless allegations and insinuations made in the report. The same is devoid of any truth. Our life and finances are an open book,” it said.

“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,” it added.

The Sebi chief and her husband said they would issue a detailed statement soon “in the interest of complete transparency”.

Criticising the report, the couple said, “It is unfortunate that Hindenburg Research against whom Sebi has taken an Enforcement action and issued a show cause notice has chosen to attempt character assassination in response to the same.”

Hindenburg Research, on Saturday, cited whistleblower documents to allege that Madhabi Puri Buch, in charge of probing allegations of malfeasance and stock manipulation in the Adani Group of companies, and her husband had stakes in obscure offshore funds used in the Adani money siphoning case, raising questions of conflict of interest related to the market regulator.

In a blog post, Hindenburg said 18 months since its damning report on Adani, “Sebi has shown a surprising lack of interest in Adani’s alleged undisclosed web of Mauritius and offshore shell entities.”

Opposition parties, including the Congress, launched a scathing attack on the Centre over Hindenburg’s allegations, demanding immediate action to eliminate all conflicts of interest in Sebi’s investigation of the Adani Group.