“Nothing in report is credible…”: Rajeev Chandrasekhar trashes Hindenburg report alleging SEBI-Adani link

New Delhi [India], August 11 (ANI): On the Hindenburg report with allegations on SEBI Chief and her husband, BJP leader and former Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Sunday trashed the Hindenburg report and said that nothing in the report is credible.

“These are a set of innuendos and guesswork that are being tied together with a few grains of truth…There is a certain plan behind this. India’s financial system today is the strongest in the world. Indian banks are strong. The Indian financial sector has been rebuilt over the last ten years by PM Modi. There seems to be a pattern where the Congress, over the last ten years, has adopted a strategy of politics of lies and is now seeking foreign help to destabilise our financial system and to create chaos in the country by attacking the independent regulator SEBI and by casting aspersions on the chairman of SEBI. Nothing in the report is credible,” Chandrasekhar said.

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

Earlier this year, the SC also dismissed a plea seeking to review the verdict that had sought investigation by the market watchdog SEBI in the Adani-Hindenburg case.

Earlier in the day, shortly after US-based short seller Hindenburg Research on August 10 alleged that SEBI Chairperson Madhabi Buch and her husband had stakes in “both the obscure offshore entities used in the Adani money siphoning scandal,” the SEBI Chairperson and her husband issued a joint statement rejecting the allegations.

Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband accused Hindenburg Research, against whom SEBI has taken enforcement action, of character assassination.

In the joint statement released to the media, they said, “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.”

Earlier on Saturday, US short seller Hindenburg alleged, “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 said.

Hindenburg Research said it has made the new allegations based on documents provided by a whistleblower and investigations carried out by other entities.

In January 2023, Hindenburg published a report accusing the Adani Group of financial irregularities, leading to a significant drop in the company’s stock price. The group at the time had rubbished these claims.

The Hindenburg report alleged stock manipulation and fraud by the conglomerate. The case is related to the allegations (part of a report by Hindenburg Research) that Adani had inflated its share prices. After these allegations were published, there was a sharp fall in the shares of various Adani group companies’ stocks.

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

Earlier this year the SC also dismissed a plea seeking to review the verdict that had sought investigation by the market watchdog SEBI in the Adani-Hindenburg case.