Hindenburg Claim: TMC fires 13 questions at SEBI chief Madhabi Buch

Despite Madhabi Buch, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), dismissed the allegations levelled against them by US short-seller Hindenburg Research, the Opposition leaders have demanded a more detailed response from her on the matter. 

Hours after Hindenburg Research's latest report claimed that Buch and her husband Dhaval had stakes in obscure offshore funds used in the Adani money siphoning scandal, the Trinamool Congress has sought Madhabi's resignation. 

TMC MP Mahua Moitra took to social media platform X to post a video slamming the SEBI chief.

In another post, she posed 13 questions based on the claims put forth by Hindenburg Research.

She wrote: "Dear Chairperson @SEBI_India we would like these questions answered in your detailed clarification:

1) Did you invest in IPEplus Fund 1 in 2015 being a part of Global Development Opportunities Fund, a part of Global Opportunities Fund used by Vinod Adani?

2) When did you cease to have a stake in this fund?

3) Was Anil Ahuja, former director of Adani Enterprises/Adani Power a part of this fund?

4) Did you disclose to SEBI your ownership stakes when you were whole-time member of SEBI?

5) When you were wholetime director of SEBI, did you ever have a shareholding in Agora Partners in Singapore or Agora Partners in India?

6) Did you disclose this shareholding and the incomes and revenues received?

7) Which entities gave business to Agora?

8) Did you sell/transfer your shareholding in Agora to your husband in 2022?

9) Which entities continue to give business to Agora Singapore or Agora India?

10) Have you disclosed to SEBI that your husband has joined Blackstone which is one of the largest stakeholders of the REIT ecosystem?

11) How many direct meetings either as an individual or as a group did you take with people either from the Adani group or from Blackstone or from associations where Adani or Blackstone are participants?

12) Before stating to the Supreme Court that SEBI “had drawn a blank”, did you inform the committee / supreme court that the some of the funds that you were tasked to investigate were infact part of the same entity that you had invested in to?

13) Did you recuse yourself from the investigation?"

What did Hindenburg Research claim?

Hindenburg Research claimed that Madhabi Puri Buch, the head of SEBI, and her husband held investments in offshore entities connected to a fund structure managed by India Infoline. 

Notably, Vinod Adani, the brother of Gautam Adani, allegedly also had investments in this structure. These investments reportedly date back to 2015, two years before Madhabi's appointment as a whole-time member of SEBI in 2017 and her subsequent elevation to chairperson in March 2022.

According to Hindenburg Research, the Bermuda-based Global Opportunities Fund, allegedly used by Adani Group entities to trade in group company shares, had sub-funds. 

Buch and her husband were alleged investors in one of these sub-funds in 2015. Citing whistleblower documents, Hindenburg claimed that Madhabi and her husband held stakes in two obscure offshore funds linked to the Adani money siphoning scandal. 

The report criticized SEBI for showing a "surprising lack of interest" in investigating Adani's alleged undisclosed web of Mauritius and offshore shell entities.

What is Adani Group's response?

In response to the allegations, Adani Group stated that their overseas holding structure is fully transparent, with all relevant details regularly disclosed in numerous public documents. 

The Adani Group acknowledged that Anil Ahuja served as a nominee director of 3i investment fund in Adani Power from 2007-2008 and later as a director of Adani Enterprises until 2017. 

However, Adani Group emphasized that they have no commercial relationship with the individuals or matters mentioned in the allegations, which they described as a "calculated deliberate effort to malign" their reputation.

Adani Group reaffirmed their commitment to transparency and compliance with all legal and regulatory requirements. They dismissed Hindenburg's allegations as "red herrings" thrown by a "desperate entity" with contempt for Indian laws, noting that Hindenburg is a "discredited short-seller" under scrutiny for violating Indian securities laws.

(With Agency Inputs)