Our life, finances an open book: Sebi chief, husband deny Hindenburg allegations

Say it is unfortunate that short-seller, against whom Sebi has taken action and issued show cause notice, has chosen to attempt character assassination in response

New Delhi: Capital markets regulator Sebi Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband on Saturday denied allegations levelled against them by short-seller Hindenburg as baseless and asserted that their finances are an open book.

In a statement, Madhabi Puri Buch and Dhaval Buch also 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.

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US short-seller Hindenburg Research alleged that Sebi Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband had stakes in obscure offshore funds used in the Adani money siphoning scandal.

In a blogpost, 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.”

Citing “whistleblower documents”, it said, “Madhabi Buch, the current chairperson of SEBI, and her husband had stakes in both obscure offshore funds used in the Adani money siphoning scandal.”

Responding to the allegation, Buchs said in their statement, “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 are devoid of any truth. Our life and finances are an open book. All disclosures as required have already been furnished to SEBI over the years.”

Buchs further said they 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,” the added.

On Saturday, the Congress demanded that the Centre act immediately to eliminate all conflicts of interest in the regulator’s investigation of the Adani Group.

The opposition party also said the “seeming complicity of the highest officials of the land” can only be resolved by setting up a Joint Parliamentary Committee to investigate the full scope of the “scam”.