’Why is Madhabi Buch reluctant to answer questions?’: Rahul Gandhi’s fresh attack as SEBI chief skips PAC meeting

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi launched a scathing attack against Madhabi Puri Buch on Thursday after the Sebi chief failed to appear before a Parliamentary committee. The Leader of Opposition also sought to know who was “behind the plan” to protect her from being answerable to the panel.

“Why is Madhabi Buch reluctant to answer questions before the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament? Who is behind the plan to protect her from being answerable to the PAC?” the Raebareli MP asked.

Senior Congress leader KC Venugopal (who heads the PAC) had earlier told reporters that Buch informed she was ‘not in a position to travel to Delhi’.

US-based short seller Hindenburg Research had earlier alleged that it suspects SEBI's unwillingness to act against the Adani group may be because Buch had stakes in offshore funds linked to the conglomerate.

Earlier in September this year, in a joint statement on Friday, SEBI Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband Dhaval Buch out rightly termed the allegations labelled against them in the recent past as "false, incorrect, malicious and motivated".

The allegations themselves were based on their Income Tax Returns, the six-page joint statement said, asserting there was no merit in those allegations.

Madhabi and Dhaval Buch asserted that their income tax returns have been obtained by the accusers by illegally and by adopting fraudulent means.

On September 2, Pawan Khera, Chairman, Media and Publicity Department, Congress, charged Madhabi Puri Buch of receiving regular income from private lender ICICI Bank and ICICI Prudential, while being the whole-time member and later Chairperson of the capital markets regulatory body.

ICICI Bank responded by saying that the lender or its group companies have not paid any salary or granted any employee stock ownership plan (ESOPs) to SEBI Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch after her retirement, other than her retiral benefits. (ANI)

(With inputs from agencies)