MUMBAI: On Saturday, U.S.-based investment research firm Hindenburg Research LLC alleged that Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband Dhaval Buch held stakes in two offshore funds allegedly involved in what they termed the "Adani money siphoning scandal." Hindenburg claimed that this raises serious concerns about a potential conflict of interest within the market regulator. According to Hindenburg, SEBI’s reluctance to take decisive action against suspicious offshore shareholders in the Adani Group could be linked to Buch’s involvement with the same funds allegedly used by Vinod Adani, the brother of Gautam Adani.

Citing "whistleblower documents," Hindenburg further alleged that the SEBI Chairperson had a stake in obscure offshore entities connected to the Adani money siphoning scandal. The research firm also claimed that SEBI has yet to take action against other suspect Adani shareholders, specifically those managed by India Infoline: EM Resurgent Fund and Emerging India Focus Funds.

Madhabi Puri Buch, who became a Whole-time Member of SEBI in 2017 and its Chairperson in March 2022, along with her husband Dhaval Buch, strongly denied the "baseless allegations and insinuations" made in the report, stating that these claims are entirely untrue. In a joint statement, they declared, "Our life and finances are an open book."

The Adani Group also dismissed the allegations, labelling them as "malicious and manipulative." In an exchange filing, the Group stated, "The latest allegations by Hindenburg are malicious, mischievous, and manipulative selections of publicly available information used to draw pre-determined conclusions for personal gain, with complete disregard for facts and the law. We completely reject these allegations against the Adani Group, which are a recycling of discredited claims that have been thoroughly investigated, proven baseless, and already dismissed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in January 2024."

This latest report by Hindenburg comes nearly 18 months after it initially stirred political controversy in January 2023 by accusing the Adani Group of "brazen stock market manipulation" and "accounting fraud." The Adani Group had denied all these allegations, and the Supreme Court rejected the demand for a CBI or court-monitored probe.