Hindenburg-Adani case: Congress has said the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government must act immediately to eliminate all conflicts of interest in the SEBI's investigation of the Adani Group and reiterated its demand for a joint parliamentary committee probe into the matter. This comes after Hindenburg Research launched a broadside against SEBI chairperson Madhabi Buch and her husband on Sunday.
US short seller firm Hindenburg Research in their latest investigative report alleged that SEBI chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband Dhaval Buch had “stake 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.”
SEBI Chairman Buch and her husband have denied the allegations levelled against them as baseless and asserted that their finances are an open book.
In January 2023, Hindenburg Research published a report accusing the Adani Group of engaging in market irregularities and stock market manipulation. The report sparked significant controversy and scrutiny. In response, the Adani Group and Gautam Adani repeatedly and vehemently denied these allegations.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said the SEBI's "reluctance to investigate the Adani scam" has been long noted, not least by the Supreme Court's Expert Committee.
Jairam Ramesh said the Committee noted that SEBI diluted the reporting requirements for ultimate beneficial ownership of foreign funds in 2018 and completely removed them in 2019.
Ramesh said the Hindenburg Research's Saturday revelations show that Buch and her husband invested in the same Bermuda and Mauritius-based offshore funds in which "Vinod Adani and his close associates Chang Chung-Ling and Nasser Ali Shahban Ahli invested funds earned from the over-invoicing of power equipment".
“It is shocking that Buch would have a financial stake in these same funds. This raises fresh questions about Gautam Adani's two 2022 meetings in quick succession with Ms Buch shortly after she became SEBI chairperson. Recall that SEBI was supposedly investigating Adani transactions at the time.”, Ramesh added.
Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram Shashi Tharoor demanded a probe into the latest allegation of Hindenburg Research against SEBI Chairperson Madhabi Buch and her husband Dhaval Buch.
Talking to ANI, the MP said, “These are serious matters. I am not aware of the details...Any such allegations must be answered satisfactorily or investigated. Can't leave these things hanging up there and casting a cloud on the integrity of our system. It is important that either a satisfactory explanation is given by the people accused or there should be an investigation”
On Sunday, Shiv Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi expressed her frustration with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for not responding to her letter requesting information about the investigation into the Hindenburg allegations. Chaturvedi had sought details on the probe into the Adani Group's financial practices as early as April of the previous year, and she implied that SEBI's silence on the matter was telling.
The Shiv Sena (UBT) MP took to X (formerly Twitter) and said, “The revelations by @HindenburgRes show the extent of support given to PawPaw’s favourite industrialist friend that even institutions like SEBI were diluted by appointing allegedly compromised people. The quid pro quo circle gets wider and the modus operandi more sinister.”
Jumping on the wagon accosting the Modi government and Adani Group, alleging a conflation in ‘money siphoning scandal’ AAP Spokesperson Reena Gupta said, ““(Delhi CM) Arvind Kejriwal has always said that people sitting in high positions are together, and therefore there is corruption in the country. This Hindenburg report has revealed that SEBI is also involved in this Adani scam.”
(None of the allegations made by Hindenburg against SEBI Chairperson and Adani group could be independently verified by Mint)
