Congress’s allegations are being contradicted by Buchs with facts: Nirmala Sitharaman on Congress-Buch tussle

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that SEBI Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch has factually countered some of the allegations from Congress. 

Speaking at an event in by News18, Sitharaman said, “I think a few of the allegations are being answered by the Buchs. Putting out facts to contradict allegations by Congress, I think the facts are to be taken on board.” 

In its latest salvo against the SEBI chief, Congress alleged that Buch engaged in in trading of listed securities worth Rs 36.9 crore during 2017-2023 when she was a whole-time member in SEBI and later was chosen as SEBI chairperson. 

Congress spokesperson Pawan Kera said Buch’s move to trade in listed securities during her SEBI membership is a violation of section 6 of SEBI Code on Conflict of Interest for Members of Board (2008). 

Madhabi and her husband Dhaval Buch issued a joint statement on their stand on the charges levelled by Congress and others.  

In the statement, Madhabi Buch said that all allegations against her were completely false, malicious, and derogatory after facing tough criticism from Hindenburg Research and Congress for alleged conflicts of interest in investigations related to the Adani Group and other corporate entities. 

She said, “Our income tax returns clearly have been obtained by adopting fraudulent means and illegally. 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.” 

About the allegations around consultancy firm Agora, Puri asserted that she never dealt with files involving Agora, Mahindra Group, Sembcorp, Dr Reddy’s, or ICICI Group. 

Earlier, Hindenburg has launched a direct attack on SEBI Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and the regulatory body, alleging that SEBI has shown a lack of interest in probing the Adani Group’s alleged undisclosed network of shell entities. SEBI, Buch, and the Adani Group have all refuted the latest allegations.