In its recent report, American short-seller Hindenburg Research flagged two firms set up by Madhabi Buch before she became a whole-time member and chairperson of Securities and Exchange Board of India as possible areas of conflict of interest.
One of them was Agora Partners, an offshore Singaporean consulting firm, and an Indian consulting business, Agora Advisory.
In their response, Buch and her husband Dhaval claimed that the two consulting firms had become “immediately dormant on her appointment with SEBI”.
However, the Indian firm’s statutory documents show that is not the case. Agora Advisory was active between 2019 and 2024 and had made Rs 3.63 crore in revenue from its operations, the documents filed with the Registrar of Companies reveal.
Hindenburg pointed out that the firm had reported Rs 1.98 crore in revenue from operations in 2021-’22, more than four times Buch’s salary as SEBI chairperson.
The report also alleged Buch and her husband Dhaval had invested in offshore funds linked to the Adani Group, citing whistleblower documents. The Buchs have denied all the allegations.
Rs 3.6 crore in revenue, 99% stake
Documents filed with the Registrar of Companies reveal Madhabi Buch continued to hold 99% stake in Agora Advisory till as late as March 2024, even though she had stepped down as director in 2017. Her husband replaced her.
According to the Hindenburg report, Buch held 100% stake in the Singaporean entity till March 2022. She transferred the shares to her husband, Dhaval Buch, two weeks after she was appointed SEBI chairperson.
“These companies (and her shareholding in them) were explicitly part of her disclosures to SEBI,” the Buchs said in their statement.
In its latest annual returns, Agora Advisory says it is engaged in “management consultancy services”.
Between 2019 and 2022, when Madhabi was a whole-time member at SEBI, Agora made Rs 3.21 crore in revenue from operations.
Madhabi was appointed SEBI chief in March 2022. Between 2022 and 2024, Agora made about Rs 41.75 lakh in revenue from operations.
In their statement itself, the Buchs appeared to contradict their claim about the consulting firms having gone “dormant” after Madhabi joined SEBI. The statement noted that after he retired from Unilever in 2019, where he worked as chief procurement officer, Dhaval “started his own consultancy practice through these companies” and worked “with prominent clients in the Indian industry”.
In response, Hindenburg Research asked the SEBI chairperson to disclose the names of these clients. “What other investments or business has the SEBI chairperson engaged in through her husband's name while serving in an official capacity?” it asked.
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