NEW DELHI: The Congress party has accused Sebi chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch of engaging in office for profit, and urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to provide clarity on her appointment as the head of the cabinet’s appointments committee.
Addressing a press conference, party spokesperson Pawan Khera alleged that Buch received a regular income from ICICI Bank and ICICI Prudential, while serving as a whole-time member and later as the chairperson of Sebi.
“She (Sebi chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch) between 2017 and 2024 was taking regular income of Rs 16 crore 80 lakhs from ICICI Bank,” Pawan Khera alleged.
“How can one ensure fair regulation when the head of SEBI has been receiving a salary from a private entity like ICICI Bank? When you work at one company, you take a salary from there only. However, when the Sebi chairperson (Madhabi Puri Buch) was a whole time member of Sebi, she was receiving regular income from ICICI bank, prudential, and ESOP from 2017-2024. Someone sitting in such a higher position in a regulatory body was receiving a payment from somewhere else. This is completely a violation of Section 54 of Sebi,” said Khera during the press conference.
Khera alleged that Buch drew income from the ICICI group during a period when Sebi was adjudicating several probes on the bank. He called for a thorough investigation into the matter to ensure the independence and integrity of regulatory frameworks.
Madhabi Puri Buch served as a whole-time member of Sebi from April 5, 2017, to October 4, 2021, before becoming the chairperson on March 2, 2022. Prior to the Congress party’s allegations, US-based short seller Hindenburg Research had also accused Buch of conflict of interest, claiming that she and her husband, Dhaval Buch, held stakes in offshore entities involved in the Adani money siphoning scandal. These allegations were based on documents provided by a whistleblower and investigations conducted by other entities, according to Hindenburg Research.
In response to the allegations, Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband issued a joint statement strongly denying the accusations, calling them baseless and devoid of truth. They stated that their life and finances are an open book and that all required disclosures have been furnished to SEBI over the years.
