On Saturday, Hindenburg Research launched a new attack against Madhabi Buch, the chairperson of market regulator Sebi, claiming that she and her husband, Dhaval Buch, have investments in obscure offshore funds that were utilised in the Adani money siphoning scandal.
"In the context of allegations made in the Hindenburg Report dated August 10, 2024 against us, we would like to state that we strongly deny the baseless allegations and insinuations made in the report. The same are devoid of any truth. 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 financial documents, including those that relate to the period when we were strictly private citizens, to any and every authority that may seek them. Further, in the interest of complete transparency, we would be issuing a detailed statement in due course. 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," reads a press statement by SEBI chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband Dhaval Buch.
About Dhaval Buch
Dhaval Buch is a senior advisor at Blackstone and at Alvarez & Marsal, according to his LinkedIn profile.
In addition, he is a non-executive director on the Gildan Board. He was previously the Mahindra group's interim president of group technology and the chief executive officer of Bristlecone.
Dhaval Buch held a three-decade career with Unilever, per his LinkedIn profile. His previous position at Unilever was as the company's Chief Procurement Officer; both of these positions were situated in Singapore. Before that, he oversaw the Unilever Supply Chain for the Asia/Africa region.
In a blogpost, Hindenburg said 18 months since its damning report on Adani, "SEBI has shown a surprising lack of interest in Adani's alleged undisclosed web of Mauritius and offshore shell entities." Citing "whistleblower documents", it said, "Madhabi Buch, the current chairperson Of SEBI, and her husband had stakes in both obscure offshore funds used in the Adani money siphoning scandal." Obscure offshore Bermuda and Mauritius funds, allegedly controlled by Vinod Adani -- elder brother of group chairman Gautam Adani -- are alleged to have been used to round-trip funds and inflate stock price.
"In brief, despite the existence of thousands of mainstream, reputable onshore Indian mutual fund products, an industry she now is responsible for regulating, documents show SEBI Chairperson Madhabi Buch and her husband had stakes in a multi-layered offshore fund structure with miniscule assets, traversing known high-risk jurisdictions, overseen by a company with reported ties to the Wirecard scandal, in the same entity run by an Adani director and significantly used by Vinod Adani in the alleged Adani cash siphoning scandal," it alleged.
(with inputs from agencies)
