Madhabi Puri Buch, chairperson of the Securities and Exchange Board of India, and her husband Dhaval Buch on Friday rejected allegations of impropriety and conflict of interest levied against them by the Congress.
In a statement on Friday, they described the Opposition party’s claims as “false, incorrect, malicious and motivated”.
The couple also claimed that the Congress’ allegations were based on their income tax filings, ergo the information had been fully disclosed and taxes duly paid.
“Our income tax returns clearly have been obtained by adopting fraudulent means and illegally,” the Buchs said. “This is a clear breach of not only our right to privacy (which is a fundamental right) but also a violation of the Income Tax Act.”
Over the past week, the Congress has made several allegations against the Buchs, accusing them of a conflict of interest involving a consultancy firm they are associated with.
On Tuesday, the party alleged that the couple had earned Rs 2.95 crore from six SEBI-regulated companies after Madhabi Puri Buch joined the market regulator in 2017.
The Opposition party claimed that this was done through the consulting firm Agora Advisory Private Limited, in which Buch owns a 99% stake. The company was registered in May 2013.
She joined SEBI as a whole-time director in April 2017 and became its chairperson in March 2022.
Scroll has previously reported that Buch owned a 99% ownership stake in Agora Advisory till at least March 2024, and that the company earned Rs 3.63 crore between 2019 and 2024, according to documents filed with the Registrar of Companies.
American short-seller Hindenburg Research had flagged Agora Advisory Private Limited in a report on August 10, in which it accused the SEBI chairperson and her husband of having stakes in offshore entities tied to alleged money laundering and stock price manipulation by the Adani Group.
On Tuesday, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera claimed that of the Rs 2.95 crore, about Rs 2.59 crore was paid to Agora Advisory Private Limited by Mahindra and Mahindra alone.
“Not only that, between 2019-’21, Dhaval Buch was separately paid Rs 4.78 crore by Mahindra and Mahindra in his personal capacity,” Khera had claimed, without disclosing the source of the information. “This was while Madhabi Buch was a whole-time member at SEBI.”
Mahindra and Mahindra had on Tuesday denied the allegations as “false and misleading”. The group said in a statement that it had hired Dhaval Buch in 2019 after he retired as Unilever’s global chief procurement officer for his expertise in supply chain management.
On Friday, the couple denied the allegations claiming that Madhabi Puri Buch has not handled any files related to Agora Advisory, Agora Partners, the Mahindra Group, Pidilite, Dr Reddy’s, Alvarez and Marsal, Sembcorp, Visu Leasing, or ICICI Bank at any point since joining SEBI.
“The allegations are completely false, malicious and defamatory,” the statement added. “Madhabi has complied with all the disclosure and recusal guidelines of SEBI, and in fact, maintained a proactive continuing recusal list with SEBI over and above the requirements under the guidelines.”
On the Congress’ allegation about rental income received from a property owned by the Buchs, the couple said that the structure had been leased out in the normal course.
Khera had claimed that Buch received Rs 2.16 crore as rent from Carol Info Services Limited, a company affiliated with Wockhardt Limited, between 2018 and 2024.
On September 6, the Congress had alleged that SEBI imposed Rs 13 lakh in penalties on two former Wockhardt executives in August 2023 for engaging in insider trading between January 2012 and August 2013.
In June 2023, SEBI had barred a former executive of the company from buying, selling or dealing in the securities of Wockhardt for a year.
On Friday, the couple said that the lessee happened to be an associate of Wockhardt, a listed company which had come under investigation. “Madhabi has not dealt with any files related to Wockhardt,” the Buchs said, adding that the regulator handles investigations in accordance with procedures.
On September 5, the Congress demanded an independent inquiry into the allegations against Madhabi Puri Buch, saying that “lots of skeletons” were tumbling out of the cupboard of the market regulator.
The Buchs on Friday also denied the Congress’ allegations that Madhabi Puri Buch received more money as a pension after retiring from ICICI Bank than the salary she drew while working there.
The party claimed that Buch drew an average annual salary of Rs 1.3 crore during her employment, but received an average annual pension of Rs 2.77 crore after retirement.
“With respect to the baseless allegations concerning the uneven nature of pension amounts…the fact is that the pension payments were consistent,” the Buchs’ statement said. “They were part of an contributory Annuity Scheme from ICICI Prudential. The uneven amounts related to the exercise of ESOPs [Employee Stock Ownership Plans] at various stages.”
Scroll has reported that Buch exercised ICICI Bank stock options to get shares worth Rs 10.3 crore after joining SEBI.
The Buchs said that SEBI guidelines permit board members, including chairpersons, to hold and transact in equity stock and that Madhabi Puri Buch had never dealt with files related to the ICICI Group while working for the market regulator.
They said that Buch had disclosed her holdings to SEBI in 2017, in addition to disclosing the subsequent transactions to the market regulator when she exercised her stock options.
Also read:
- Madhabi Buch exercised ICICI Bank stock options to get shares worth Rs 10.3 crore after joining SEBI
- SEBI chief did not recuse herself from Adani probe, says board member
- Did SEBI chief disclose stakes in Adani-linked funds to Supreme Court panel?
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