The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has attacked the Congress for backing US short-seller Hindenburg Reserach’s latest charge against Sebi chief Madhabi Puri Buch. BJP MP Sudhanshu Trivedi asked the grand old party why it always stands with foreign firms that want to create economic chaos in India.
“For the past few years, whenever the Parliament session commences, a foreign report gets released. BBC documentary was released just before the Parliament session. The Hindenberg report came in January (against the Adani Group) just before the Parliament session. All these sequences happen during the Parliament session,” Trivedi asked, adding that the opposition has some connections with the abroad to create instability and anarchy during every Parliament session of India.
The BJP Rajya Sabha MP also recalled a statement by George Soros, infamous for pouring money and helping forces change regimes in foreign countries, where the latter said he had kept $1 billion to remove the Modi government. This statement came just before the Lok Sabha elections.
Trivedi also referred to Rahul Gandhi’s remarks in the UK where he sought the intervention of the US and Europe to restore democracy in India. “Rahul Gandhi expects all kinds of support from foreign countries. He goes abroad and wants the intervention of foreign countries. The opposition parties want to create economic chaos in India. Be it government companies or private firms – they attacked LIC and HAL. Now they are attacking SEBI.”
“Why does Congress always stand with foreign companies for the past 30-40 years? Why did it stand with Union Carbide? It helped Warren Anderson flee India. Who stood with Bofors? Congress. Who stood with AgustaWestland? Congress. BBC ke saath Congress, Hindenburge ke saath Congress. I would say Rahul Gandhi has even worked in a British firm, Backops,” Trivedi said while speaking with news agency ANI.
Business Today had earlier reported that Rahul Gandhi and Ulrik Mcknight were the founding directors of Backops UK where Gandhi owned the majority 65% of shares and Mcknight owned 35% of shares as of June 2005. This company was dissolved in February 2009.
On Saturday, US short-seller Hindenburg Research, which last year claimed massive market manipulation by Adani, came up with a fresh charge against market regulator Sebi chairperson Madhabi Buch, alleging she and her husband had stakes in obscure offshore funds allegedly used in the Adani money siphoning scandal. Hindenburg suggested that Sebi did not act against Adani as its chief herself had a stake in the offshore funds linked to Adani.
The Congress almost immediately latched on to the report and demanded the Centre act immediately to eliminate all conflicts of interest in Sebi’s probe of the Adani Group. The opposition party also said the “seeming complicity of the highest officials of the land” can only be resolved by setting up a Joint Parliamentary Committee to investigate the full scope of the “scam”.
Meanwhile, Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband have denied the charges against them, saying their finances are an open book. In a statement, they said it was unfortunate Hindenburg against whom Sebi had taken an Enforcement action and issued a show cause notice had chosen to attempt character assassination in response to the same.
