The Congress on Monday posed fresh questions to SEBI chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and asked her to step down for allegedly violating Section 54 of SEBI. In a press briefing, Congress leader Pawan Khera said that Buch was taking a regular salary from ICICI Bank despite being a full-time member of Sebi.
Buch was a whole-time member of SEBI from April 5, 2017 to October 4, 2021. “Then on March 2, 2022, Madhabi Puri Buch became the Chairperson of SEBI. Buch, while being a full-time member of SEBI, was drawing regular income from ICICI Bank, which was Rs 16.80 crore. She was also taking ICICI Prudential, ESOP and TDS of ESOP from ICICI Bank. So we want to know why you were taking your salary from ICICI despite being a full-time member of SEBI?” Khera asked.
“This is a direct violation of Section 54 of SEBI. Therefore, if Madhabi Puri Buch has any shame, she should resign from her post,” he said.
The Congress has stepped up its attack on Sebi chief after Hindenburg Research last month claimed Buch and her husband had stakes in obscure offshore funds used in the alleged Adani money siphoning scandal. Buch and her husband have denied the allegations levelled against them as baseless and asserted that their finances are an open book.
The Adani Group also termed Hindenburg’s latest allegations as malicious and manipulative of select public information, saying it has no commercial relationship with the SEBI chairperson or her husband.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) attacked the Congress for backing Hindenburg’s charges and asked the grand old party why it always stands with foreign firms that want to create economic chaos in India.
BJP MP Sudhanshu Trivedi alleged that 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 Hindenburg 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.
Trivedi 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.
“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,” he added.
