'In true Adani style'..: Opposition targets SEBI chief Madhabi Buch after latest Hindenburg report

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh

Leaders from opposition parties particularly Congress and Trinamool Congress were the first to post their reactions to the latest allegations by Hindenburg  in which  it launched a fresh broadside against market regulator Sebi chairperson Madhabi Buch, alleging she and her husband had stakes in obscure offshore funds used in the Adani money siphoning scandal.

The Congress on Saturday used the Latin phrase ”Quis Custodiet Ipsos” or ”who will guard the guards themselves” to take a swipe at SEBI chief Madhabi Buch.

Trinamool Congress leader Mahua Moitra also reacted to the latest revelation by Hindenburg Research allegation on the SEBI Chairman. In a tweet she wrote,In true Adani style - even SEBI Chairman is investor in his group. Crony Capitalism at its finest. @CBiHeadquarters&@Dir_ED - will you be filing POCA and PMLA cases or not?

In true Adani style - even SEBI Chairman is investor in his group. Crony Capitalism at its finest. @CBiHeadquarters & @Dir_ED - will you be filing POCA and PMLA cases or not?

— Mahua Moitra (@MahuaMoitra) August 10, 2024

Hindenburg has alleged that Buch and her husband had stakes in obscure offshore funds used in the Adani money-siphoning case.Tagging the Hindenburg post on the allegations on X, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said, ”Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes (who will guard the guards themselves).” In another post on the microblogging platform, Ramesh said, ”Parliament was notified to sit till the evening of August 12th. Suddenly it got adjourned sine die on the afternoon of Aug 9th itself. Now we know why.”

Here is our statement on the latest Hindenberg revelations

Quis Custodiet Ipsos
Custodies pic.twitter.com/D1wGN2uJop

— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) August 10, 2024

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi on Saturday said it was now clear why SEBI did not answer her letters seeking details of Adani group companies.

She was reacting to US short-seller Hindenburg Research's claim that SEBI chairperson Madhabi Buch and her husband had stakes in obscure offshore funds used in the Adani money siphoning scandal.

In a blogpost, Hindenburg said 18 months since its damning report on industrialist Gautam Adani, ”SEBI has shown a surprising lack of interest in Adani’s alleged undisclosed web of Mauritius and offshore shell entities.” Citing ”whistleblower documents”, it alleged: ”Madhabi Buch, the current chairperson of SEBI, and her husband had stakes in both obscure offshore funds used in the Adani money siphoning scandal.”

The SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India), which had been investigating the Adani group even before the Hindenburg report, had told a Supreme Court-appointed panel last year that it was probing 13 opaque offshore entities that held between 14 per cent and 20 per cent across five publicly-traded stocks of the conglomerate. It has not stated if the two incomplete probes have since been concluded.

*With Agency Inputs