Hindenburg asks SEBI chairperson to come clean on clients dealt by her firms

SEBI chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch has now publicly confirmed her investment in an obscure BermudaMauritius fund structure US shortseller Hindenburg Research said asking her to come clean on all the consulting clients her offshore Singaporean as well as Indian consulting firms dealt withHours after Buch and her husband issued a statement calling Hindenburgs latest tirade as an attack on the credibility of SEBI and attempted character assassination Hindenburg in a series of posts on X said their response includes several important admissions and raised numerous new critical questionsBuchs response now publicly confirms her investment in an obscure BermudaMauritius fund structure alongside money allegedly siphoned by Vinod Adani She also confirmed the fund was run by a childhood friend of her husband who at the time was an Adani director it saidHindenburg Research had on Saturday 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 roundtrip funds and inflate stock pricesIn response Buch and her husband Dhaval Buch in a joint statement on Sunday said the investments were made in 2015 well before her appointment as a wholetime member of SEBI in 2017 and the subsequent elevation as chairperson in March 2022 and in capacity as private citizens living in Singapore These funds became dormant on her appointment in SEBISEBI was tasked with investigating investment funds relating to the Adani matter which would include funds Ms Buch WAS PERSONALLY INVESTED IN and funds by the same sponsor which were specifically highlighted in our original report This is obviously a massive conflict of interest Hindenburg Research saidAccording to the statement by Buch investment in the two funds was made on advice of Dhavals childhood friend Anil Ahuja the person which Hindenburg Research on Saturday identified as the founder and Chief Investment Officer CIO of the Mauritiusbased IPE Plus Fund and who the Adani group also in its the statement on Sunday said was a nominee of 3i Investment Fund in Adani Power 20072008 and served as a director of Adani Enterprises for three terms spanning nine years ending in June 2017Buchs statement also claims that the two consulting companies she set up including the Indian entity and the opaque Singaporean entity became immediately dormant on her appointment with SEBI in 2017 with her husband taking over starting in 2019 Per its latest shareholding list as of March 31 2024 Agora Advisory Limited India is still 99 per cent owned by Madhabi Buch not her husband This entity is currently active and generating consulting revenue Hindenburg Research saidAlso she remained a 100 per cent shareholder of Agora Partners Singapore until March 16 2022 per Singaporean records owning it during her entire time as a SEBI Whole Time Member She only transferred her shares into her husbands name two weeks after her appointment as SEBI chairperson it allegedMadhabi Puri Buch and her husband Dhaval Buch in a joint statement on Sunday strongly denied the baseless allegations and insinuations made in the report saying the charges were devoid of any truthSEBI too defended its chairperson In a twopage statement it said Buch had made relevant disclosures from time to time and she had also recused herself in matters involving potential conflicts of interestAdani group too denied any commercial dealings with SEBI head while wealth management entity 360ONE formerly called as IIFL Wealth Management separately said Buch and her husband Dhaval Buchs investment in IPEPlus Fund 1 was less than 15 per cent of the total inflows and that it did not make any investments in Adani Group sharesHindenburg said the Singaporean consulting entity she set up doesnt publicly report its financials like revenue or profit and so its impossible to see how much money this entity has earned during her time at SEBIThe Indian entity still 99 per cent owned by the SEBI chairperson has generated INR 23985 million U 312000 in revenue ie consulting during the financial years 22 23 and 24 while she was serving as Chairperson per its financial statements it saidHindenburg cited whistleblower documents to state that Buch used her personal email to do business using her husbands name while serving as a Whole Time Member of SEBIIn 2017 weeks ahead of her appointment as SEBI Whole Time Member she ensured the accounts with ties to Adani be registered solely in the name of Dhaval Buch her husband as per whistleblower documents Despite disclaiming control a private email she sent a year into her SEBI term shows she redeemed stakes in the funds through her husbands name per the whistleblower documents This raises the question What other investments or business has the SEBI Chairperson engaged in through her husbands name while serving in an official capacity it askedBuch according to Hindenburg said her husband used the consulting entities starting in 2019 to transact with unnamed prominent clients in the Indian industryDo these include clients SEBI is tasked with regulating it askedBuchs statement promised a commitment to complete transparency Given this will she publicly release the full list of consulting clients and details of the engagements both through the offshore Singaporean consulting firm the Indian consulting firm and any other entity she or her husband may have an interest in Hindenburg Research askedFinally will the SEBI Chairperson commit to a full transparent and public investigation into these issues it further askedWith inputs from Agencies