Sebi chief Madhabi Buch and husband’s statement on Hindenburg allegations: Full text

Markets regulator Sebi chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband Dhaval Buch have denied all the allegations leveled against them by whistleblower Hindenburg Research in the Adani controversy, calling it “character assassination”.

Here is the full text of the joint statement issued by Buch to the media:

With regard to the allegations made by Hindenburg on 10m As of August 2024, and in line with our commitment to full transparency, we are issuing the following detailed statement.

There are some allegations against SEBI that will be addressed by the organization independently. We want to address issues that concern us in our individual capacity.

We would like to state the following:

1. Madhabi is an alumnus of IIM Ahmedabad and has a corporate career spanning over two decades in banking and financial services, mostly with the ICICI Group.
2. Dhaval Buch is an alumnus of IIT Delhi and has a 35-year corporate career at Hindustan Unilever Limited in India and then at Unilever globally as part of its senior management team. During this long period, Madhabi and Dhawal have built up their savings through their salaries, bonuses and stock options. Allusions to Madhabi’s current government salary regarding his net worth and investments are malicious and motivated.
3. From 2010 to 2019, Dhawal lived and worked in London and Singapore with Unilever.
4. From 2011 to March 2017, Madhabi lived and worked in Singapore, initially as an employee of a private equity firm and later as a consultant.
5. The investment in the fund mentioned in the Hindenburg report was made in 2015 when they were both private citizens living in Singapore and about 2 years before Madhabi joined Sebi, also as a full-time member.
6. The decision to invest in this fund was taken because the Chief Investment Officer, Mr. Anil Ahuja, is a childhood friend of Dhawal’s school and IIT Delhi and, being an ex-employee of Citibank, JP Morgan and 3i Group plc, has been strong for several decades. Investment career. This fact that was the driver of the investment decision was the fact that when, in 2018, Mr. Ahuja stepped down as CIO of the fund, we redeemed the investment in that fund.
7. As confirmed by Mr. Ahuja, the Fund has not at any time invested in bonds, equity or derivatives of any Adani Group company.
8. Dhawal’s appointment as a senior advisor at Blackstone Private Equity in 2019 was due to his deep expertise in supply chain management. His appointment thus precedes Madhabi’s appointment as SEBI Chairman. The appointment has since been in the public domain. At no time has Dhawal been involved with the real estate side of Blackstone.
9. Upon his appointment, the Blackstone group was immediately added to Madhabi’s recusal list maintained by SEBI.
10. In the last two years, SEBI has issued more than 300 circulars (including the “Ease of Doing Business” initiative in line with SEBI’s developmental mandate) across the market eco-system. All SEBI regulations are approved by its Board (and not by its Chairman) after extensive public consultation. A handful of these cases regarding the REIT industry were malicious and motivated in favor of any particular party.
11. Two consulting firms set up by Madhabi during his stay in Singapore, one in India and one in Singapore, became defunct soon after his appointment to SEBI. These companies (and her stake in them) were clearly part of her disclosures to SEBI.
12. After Dhawal retired from Unilever in 2019, he started his own consultancy practice through these companies. Dhawal’s deep expertise in supply chain allowed him to work with leading clients in Indian industry. Thus, linking the earnings of these companies with Madhabi’s current government salary is vitiated.
13. When the shareholding of the Singapore entity went to Dhawal, this was once again disclosed not only to SEBI, but also to the Singaporean authorities and the Indian tax authorities.
14. SEBI has a strong institutional mechanism of disclosure and recovery norms as per the Code of Conduct applicable to its officers. Accordingly, all disclosures and recoveries have been strictly complied with, including all securities held or subsequently transferred.
15. Hindenburg has been served show cause notices for various violations in India. It is unfortunate that instead of responding to the show cause notice, they chose to attack the credibility of SEBI and attempted character assassination of the SEBI Chairman.

Also Read | Explained: Who are the Hindenburg people and why are they after SEBI chief Madhabi Puri Buch?