Congress leader Pawan Khera on Tuesday attacked the Centre, alleging that the NDA government was shielding Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and that she held shares in unlisted companies.
“We have another expose regarding SEBI chief Madhabi Puri Buch today. Rahul Gandhi, through his videos, is questioning what the compulsions of the government are that it is protecting the SEBI chief. Does she blackmail the government? It is not possible for any democratically elected government to continue protecting a tainted individual, especially when there is a smoking gun, evidence out there in the public domain,” Khera said during a press conference in New Delhi.
Khera further said, “Madhabi Buch owns another flat in Mumbai. In 2021-22, she earned rental income from a property rented out to a company called Green World Buildcon and Infra Private Limited, owned by Mukul and Vipul Bansal. Mukul Bansal has a significant background with the Indiabulls Group.”
The Congress leader also alleged that she was among the initial shareholders of Predible Health, which received funds from the central government, and she continued to hold equity in the company while being a SEBI member.
“The (income tax) leak was discovered in 2017. Despite that, Buch held the company’s (Predible Health) equity till 2021… She sold her stake to a US company, making a return of almost 226 times,” Khera said.
The Congress has been questioning Buch over SEBI’s alleged indifference to investigate the Adani Group’s alleged undisclosed network of shell entities after US-based Hindenburg Research named the SEBI chief, along with her husband Dhaval Buch, in its report. The report accused Buch of being involved in financial impropriety with the Adani Group.
“We suspect SEBI’s unwillingness to take meaningful action against suspect offshore shareholders in the Adani Group may stem from [the] Chairperson’s complicity in using the same funds used by Vinod Adani, brother of Gautam Adani… To date, SEBI has taken no action against other suspected Adani shareholders operated by IIFL: EM Resurgent Fund and Emerging India Focus Funds,” the report had stated.
Rejecting the allegations, SEBI said it had conducted thorough investigations on the claims made against the Adani Group.
In a joint statement earlier, both Madhabi and Dhaval Buch refuted the allegations as “false, incorrect, malicious and motivated”.
“Our life and finances are an open book. 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. Further, in the interest of complete transparency,” their joint statement said.