 "Sebi chair had stake in offshore entities used in Adani scandal: Hindenburg | News on Markets")
Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch (Photo: PTI)
Eighteen months after its report on Adani Group, US-based short-seller Hindenburg Research claimed on Saturday that Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband Dhaval Buch had stake in obscure offshore entities used in Adani money siphoning scandal.
The short-seller said that despite the evidence, along with over 40 independent media investigations on its work, Sebi took no public action against Adani Group.
“It has been nearly 18 months since our original report on the Adani Group presented overwhelming evidence that the Indian conglomerate was operating “the largest con in corporate history”. Our report exposed a web of offshore, primarily Mauritius-based shell entities used for suspected billions of dollars of undisclosed related party transactions, undisclosed investment and stock manipulation. Since then, despite the evidence, along with over 40 independent media investigations corroborating and expanding on our original work, Indian securities regulator Sebi has taken no public action against the Adani Group. Instead, on June 27th, 2024, Sebi sent us an apparent ‘show cause’ notice. It did not allege any factual errors in our 106-page analysis, but instead claimed the disclosure around our short position– which we disclosed repeatedly– was deficient, arguing that we should have provided even more robust disclosure,” said the Hindenburg in its report published on its website on Saturday.
The Hindenburg report further read, “We had previously noted Adani’s total confidence in continuing to operate without the risk of serious regulatory intervention, suggesting that this may be explained through Adani’s relationship with Sebi Chairperson, Madhabi Buch. What we hadn’t realised: the current Sebi Chairperson and her husband, Dhaval Buch, had hidden stakes in the exact same obscure offshore funds in Bermuda and Mauritius, found in the same complex nested structure, used by Vinod Adani.”
According to Hindenburg, Buch and her husband may have first opened their account with IPE Plus Fund 1 on June 5, 2015 in Singapore. IPE fund is a small offshore Mauritius fund set up by an Adani director through India Infoline (IIFL), a wealth management firm with ties to the Wirecard embezzlement scandal. “Vinod Adani, brother of Gautam Adani, used this structure to invest in Indian markets with funds allegedly siphoned from over invoicing of power equipment to Adani Group,” claimed Hindenburg.
“A declaration of funds, signed by a principal at IIFL states that the source of the investment is ‘salary’ and the couple´s net worth is estimated at $10 million,” the short-seller firm further stated.
Earlier today, the short seller had hinted at another significant disclosure involving India after its Adani Group exposé.
First Published: Aug 10 2024 | 10:25 PM IST
