PAC calls SEBI for performance review amid allegations against Madhabi Buch
The PAC, led by Congress member KC Venugopal, has called the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India as well for a performance review on October 24
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament has called the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for a performance review on October 24 amid allegations of financial irregularities against the stock market regulator’s chief Madhabi Buch.
The PAC, led by Congress member of Parliament (MP) KC Venugopal, has called the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) as well for a review on October 24
A notification issued by the Lok Sabha secretariat said this is a “Performance Review of Regulatory Bodies established by Act of Parliament”.
Both SEBI and TRAI are regulatory bodies established by Act of Parliament. Usually, the heads of the institutions attend such meetings called by Parliament committees. The panel has also asked finance ministry officials to appear before it.
“Briefing by Audit followed by Oral evidence of the representatives of Ministry of Finance (Department of Economic Affairs) and Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on the subject, “Performance Review of Regulatory Bodies established by Act of Parliament”,” said the notification by the Lok Sabha secretariat.
The Congress had been targeting Buch over a Hindenburg Research report that alleged that she and her husband Dhaval Buch held hidden stakes in the same obscure offshore funds in Bermuda and Mauritius which were used by Adani Group’s Vinod Adani.
The couple has dismissed the allegations as baseless, asserting that their finances are transparent. The party had also demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the allegations.
Congress MP and leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, had said, “The integrity of SEBI, the securities regulator entrusted with safeguarding the wealth of small retail investors, has been gravely compromised by the allegations against its chairperson. It is now abundantly clear why Prime Minister Modi is so afraid of a JPC probe and what it might reveal.”
However, denying the allegations, the couple said, “The investment in the fund referred to in the Hindenburg report was made in 2015 when they were both private citizens living in Singapore and almost 2 years before Madhabi joined SEBI, even as a Whole Time Member. The decision to invest in this fund was because the Chief Investment Officer, Anil Ahuja, is Dhaval’s childhood friend from school and IIT Delhi and, being an ex-employee of Citibank, JP Morgan and 3i Group plc, had many decades of strong investing career. 1. As confirmed by Anil Ahuja, at no point in time did the fund invest in any bond, equity, or derivative of any Adani group company…”
An earlier meeting of the PAC had seen a Trinamool Congress (TMC) lawmaker demanding to summon the SEBI chief and facing strong resistance from a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member, underlining the political fissures over the raging controversy.
