• Source:JND
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SEBI Chairperson:  Hindenburg Research, the United States-based short seller, on Saturday, levelled serious allegations against the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board Of India (SEBI), claiming that the chairperson had stakes in foreign shell companies which were allegedly used in the Adani Money siphoning scandal.

This came almost 18 months after Hindenburg published an explosive report which levelled charges against Adani Group of using Mauritius-based shell entities used for suspected billions of dollars of undisclosed related party transactions, undisclosed investment and stock manipulation.

The report, based on whistleblower accounts, further claimed that despite it being 18 months since its big expose on the Adani Group's scandal hit the news, SEBI, the Indian markets regulator did nothing but some tokenism.

"Our report exposed a web of offshore, primarily Mauritius-based shell entities used for suspected billions of dollars of undisclosed related party transactions, undisclosed investment and stock manipulation," the report stated.

Hindenburg SEBI Report: Vinod Adani Named

The latest Hindenburg Research report claimed that Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani's brother Vinod Adani used a complex structure of shell companies based in tax haven countries, Bermuda and Mauritius to invest in Indian markets with funds from allegedly siphoned from over-invoicing of power equipment to the Adani Group.

SEBI Chairperson Had Hidden Stakes In Adani's Offshore Shell Companies: Hindenburg

The report claimed that current SEBI Chairperson Madhabi Buch and her husband, Dhaval Buch, had undisclosed stakes in the exact same obscure offshore Bermuda and Mauritius funds, found in the same complex nested structure, used by Vinod Adani - brother of Gautam Adani.

These investments are said to date back to 2015, long before Madhabi Buch was appointed as a whole-time member of SEBI in 2017 and later promoted to SEBI chairperson in March 2022.

The report further alleged that a week before the appointment of Madhabi Buch, her husband Dhaval Buch requested the Fund to transfer their joint investment under his sole control. This was possibly done to avoid the scrutiny before the high-profile, politically sensitive investment, the report said.

"We, DHAVAL BUCH and MADHABI PURI BUCH, hereby refer to our Accounts with the Fund registered in our joint names. We hereby request that as from the date of this letter the Accounts be registered solely in the name of DHAVAL BUCH and that henceforth DHAVAL BUCH be the sole person authorised to operate the Accounts and to execute any document related thereto," the report shared a letter allegedly written by Dhaval Buch.