“Will PM Modi, SEBI, Sitharaman give detailed answers?”: Congress’ Pawan Khera on Hindenburg report

New Delhi [India], August 12 (ANI): Following the US-based short seller Hindenburg report and its allegations on market regulator SEBI chairperson Madhabi Buch, Congress leader Pawan Khera on Monday demanded a detailed response from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

“When will SEBI, PM and Nirmala Sitharaman give a point-wise reply to the factual and point-wise issues raised by Hindenburg? We are waiting for that date…Did she respond on Agora? Did she respond to the point that she sent a mail for money from her email ID even after becoming SEBI Chairperson? Before becoming SEBI Chairperson did she disclose her investments in off-shore companies? Did the Government of India suspect that her companies had investments in Gautam Adani’s brother Vinod Adani’s off-shore companies?” Khera told ANI.

“If they had such information, why was she made SEBI Chairperson? If they didn’t have information, then what are they doing by being in power? They should resign if they don’t know this,” he added.

Earlier, 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.