BJP’s CR Kesavan criticises Hindenburg report, questions Congress, INDI bloc’s “motive, motivation”

Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], August 12 (ANI): BJP national spokesperson CR Kesavan hit out at the recent Hindenburg report and its allegations on market regulator SEBI chairperson Madhabi Buch.

Kesavan said that the report “resembles a typical shoot and scoot toolkit of a dubious short seller without any credibility.” He dismissed the report as a “retaliation” to the show cause notice and alleged it was an attempt to “manufacture a false narrative to distract, divert and deflect attention” from the notice.

“In July this year, the SEBI heads slapped a show cause notice on Hindenburg research, saying that there are alleged violations in stock market rules by them resulting in a loss for Indian investors. Just a month later, now in August, replying to the show cause notice, Hindenburg research has come out with a baseless, unfounded report,” Kesavan said.

Earlier this week, US-based short seller Hindenburg Research alleged that market regulator SEBI chairperson Madhabi Buch and her husband had stakes in obscure offshore funds used in the alleged Adani money syphoning scandal.

“Rahul Gandhi made a cricket analogy like Greg Chappell once dubiously read, it is the hit-and-run Hindenburg and the crooked Congress-INDI alliance that is indulging in shady and deceitful underarm bowling to discredit our stock market and regulators and destabilise our financial system,” Kesavan said.

The BJP leader highlighted the Supreme Court’s 2023 directive to SEBI to probe into the Adani Group based on the then Hindenburg report.

“And in January of this year, SC, while refusing to entertain the SIT probe, said that the SEBI probe on the Hindenburg allegations was comprehensive and inspired confidence. The SC has also said that the SEBI should probe the activities and conduct of Hindenburg in terms of manipulating stock rules to defraud Indian investors. So this is the history. Now we can see why they connect that this report has come out dubiously at this juncture. This is more of a retaliation report,” Kesavan said.

“As far as the Congress party is concerned, we know that the legacy of UPA is nothing but NPA and crony capitalism, which resulted in a very volatile stock market and in 2014 we had a very fragile economy. Thanks to the leadership of Narendra Modi, we are now the strongest financial system in the world and soon to become the third largest economy,” he added.

Kesavan alleged that the Congress is trying to “create fear and panic” because they faced “rejection” for the third consecutive time in the Lok Sabha elections.

“This is one of the reasons why Modi has been given a historic third-time mandate by the people. The Congress has been rejected for the third consecutive time. They are very upset about it which is why they are trying to create panic, and fear, discredit our stock system, defame our regulators and destabilise and derail our economy. But their efforts will not succeed,” he said.

Kesavan went on to question the Congress party and the opposition coalition’s “motivation to shoot from the report’s shoulders”.

“Every time there is a report from this dubious short seller, why do the Congress and the INDI alliance shoot on their shoulders so promptly? What is the motive and motivation of the Congress and the INDI alliance to shoot from the shoulders of such a dubious entity that lacks any credibility?” Kesavan asked.

The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, alleged on Sunday that there was a significant risk in the Indian stock market after the “integrity” of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) was “gravely compromised” by the allegations against its chairperson.

Rahul Gandhi also questioned why SEBI Chairperson Madhabi Buch has not yet resigned and demanded an answer from the government.

“It is my duty as Leader of the Opposition to bring to your notice that there is a significant risk in the Indian stock market because the institutions that govern the stock market are compromised. A very serious allegation against the Adani group was illegal share ownership and price manipulation using offshore funds,” he said in a self-made video message.

However, SEBI Chairperson Madhabi Buch and her husband, through a press release, rejected the allegations of Hindenburg as baseless and malicious and said this was done for their “character assassination.”

“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. 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,” they said in the statement.

On August 10, Hindenburg published a report alleging, “We had previously noted Adani’s total confidence in continuing to operate without the risk of serious regulatory intervention, suggesting that this may be explained through Adani’s relationship with SEBI Chairperson, Madhabi Buch.”

“What we hadn’t realized: the current SEBI Chairperson and her husband, Dhaval Buch, had hidden stakes in the exact same obscure offshore Bermuda and Mauritius funds, found in the same complex nested structure, used by Vinod Adani,” the report by the US hedge firm alleged.

Earlier in January 2023, Hindenburg published a report accusing the Adani Group of financial irregularities, leading to a significant drop in the group’s stock prices. Adani had rubbished these claims as baseless.

In January 2024, the Supreme court refused to transfer the probe into the allegations made by Hindenburg of stock price manipulation by the Adani group to an SIT and directed market regulator SEBI to complete its probe into two pending cases within three months.

In June this year, the Supreme Court also dismissed a plea seeking to review its earlier verdict in the Adani-Hindenburg case.