Hindenburg alleges SEBI chief had stake in offshore entities linked to Adani scam

New Delhi: US short-seller Hindenburg Research has leveled serious allegations against SEBI Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband, claiming they held undisclosed stakes in offshore entities linked to the Adani Group.

According to Hindenburg, whistleblower documents reveal that Buch and her husband, Dhaval Buch, invested in Bermuda and Mauritius-based funds allegedly controlled by Vinod Adani, the elder brother of Gautam Adani. These funds are suspected to have been used to manipulate stock prices and siphon money.

The report further claims that Dhaval Buch transferred the couple’s investments to his sole control shortly before Madhabi Buch's appointment to SEBI, raising questions about potential conflicts of interest. Hindenburg alleges that the SEBI chief's financial ties to these funds may explain the regulator's perceived leniency towards the Adani Group.

The short-seller has also accused Madhabi Buch of holding a 100% stake in an offshore Singaporean consulting firm, Agora Partners, until shortly after her appointment as SEBI Chairperson.

SEBI Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband Dhaval Buch denied the allegations levelled by Hindenburg Research. "Further, in the interest of complete transparency, we would be issuing a detailed statement in due course,” they said.

These fresh allegations come amid the ongoing controversy surrounding the Adani Group, which faced a significant market value erosion following Hindenburg's initial report in January 2023 accusing the conglomerate of fraud and stock manipulation.

In January 2023, Hindenburg Research accused the Adani Group of orchestrating "the largest con in corporate history".

The report alleged that the conglomerate used a network of offshore companies to inflate revenue and manipulate stock prices while accumulating massive debt. Despite the Adani Group's strong denials, the report caused a dramatic plunge in the group's share values, erasing over USD 150 billion in market value from its 10 listed entities at their lowest point.

Following the Hindenburg report, the Supreme Court directed Sebi to finalise its investigation and establish a separate expert panel to examine regulatory lapses.

Interestingly, the expert panel did not issue any negative findings about Adani, and the Supreme Court also concluded that no additional investigations beyond Sebi's were necessary.