'SEBI Chairperson Used Personal Email To Do Business With Husband's Name': Hindenburg Raises More Questions After Buch Denied Allegations

After Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch responded to allegations made by Hindenburg Research, the US-based short seller raised another set of questions.

Asserting that Buch’s response publicly confirms her investment in an obscure Bermuda/Mauritius fund structure, alongside money allegedly siphoned by Vinod Adani, Hindenburg added that she also confirmed the fund was run by a childhood friend of her husband, who at the time was an Adani director.

"SEBI 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," it claimed.

Hindenburg rebutted Buch's claims that the two consulting companies set up by her, including the Indian entity and the opaque Singaporean entity, became immediately dormant on her appointment with SEBI in 2017 and claimed that Agora Advisory Limited (India), is still 99 per cent owned by Buch.

"Furthermore, Buch remained a 100 per cent shareholder of Agora Partners Singapore until 16 March 2022, per Singaporean records, owning it during her entire time as a SEBI Whole Time Member. She only transferred her shares into her husband’s name two weeks after her appointment as SEBI Chairperson," it added.

Hindenburg claimed that Buch used her personal email to do business using her husband’s (Dhaval Buch) name while serving as a Whole Time Member of SEBI and that she ensured the accounts with ties to Adani "be registered solely in the name of Dhaval Buch."

"Despite disclaiming control, a private email she sent a year into her SEBI term shows she redeemed stakes in the funds through her husband’s name, per the whistleblower documents," Hindenburg said questioning, "What other investments or business has the SEBI Chairperson engaged in through her husband's name while serving in an official capacity?"

On Buch's husband transacting with unnamed "prominent clients in the Indian industry," Hindenburg questioned, "Do these include clients SEBI is tasked with regulating?"

The short-seller urged Buch to 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.