Nothing more for govt to add: DEA Secretary on Hindenburg report on Sebi Chief

New Delhi, Aug 12 (PTI) The Finance Ministry on Monday said it has nothing more to add to the statements given by the Securities and Exchange Board of India and its chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch regarding Hindenburg’s latest report.

US-based short-seller Hindenburg Research on Saturday launched a broadside against the Sebi’s chairperson, alleging she and her husband had stakes in obscure offshore funds allegedly used in investments in the Adani companies.

“Sebi has made the statement. The chairperson has also made a statement. There is nothing further to be added by the government,” Economic Affairs Secretary in the Finance Ministry Ajay Seth told reporters here.

Hindenburg, in its latest report, alleged that Sebi Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband had undisclosed investments in obscure offshore funds in Bermuda and Mauritius, the same entities allegedly used by Vinod Adani – the elder brother of group chairman Gautam Adani – to round-trip funds and inflate stock prices.

Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband Dhaval Buch, in a joint statement, strongly denied the “baseless allegations and insinuations made in the report”, saying the charges were “devoid of any truth”.

Sebi also defended its chairperson. In a two-page statement, the regulator said Buch had made relevant disclosures from time to time, and she “had also recused herself in matters involving potential conflicts of interest”.

Adani group also denied any commercial dealings with the Sebi chief while wealth management entity 360ONE – formerly called IIFL Wealth Management – separately said Buch and her husband Dhaval Buch’s investment in IPE-Plus Fund 1 was less than 1.5 per cent of the total inflows and that it did not make any investments in Adani Group shares.

The investments were made in 2015, well before her appointment as a whole-time member of Sebi in 2017 and the subsequent elevation as chairperson in March 2022, and in capacity as “private citizens living in Singapore”, Buchs said.