The Opposition Congress on Monday continued to put pressure on SEBI chief Madhabi Puri Buch to tender her resignation as the party accused her of conflict of interest.
Notably, the Congress has been demanding resignation of Buch following the Hindenburg Research report against her last month. The US-based short seller alleged that Buch and her husband Dhaval Buch had stakes in obscure offshore entities used in the Adani money siphoning scandal.
Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters here, Congress chairman of media and publicity department, Pawan Khera said, “The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is entrusted with safeguarding the hard-earned money of the Indian middle class, which painstakingly saves every penny that it can, to invest in the hope of a secure future. Yet, while the people place their hopes in SEBI whose chairperson is appointed directly by the Prime Minister (Narendra Modi), they appear to have been conning us all along.”
“There have been multiple conflicts of interest involving the SEBI chairperson. The conflict of interest in so far as the Supreme Court monitored investigation on the Adani saga has already been discussed. Over and above that, there are other conflicts of interest which put the institution of SEBI under a huge cloud of suspicion.”
Hitting out at Buch, the Congress leader said, “Since the current SEBI chairperson took office in 2017, she has not only been drawing a salary from SEBI, but has also been holding an ‘office of profit’ at ICICI Bank, continuing to receive income from them to this very day… between 2017-2021, as a whole time member of SEBI, the current SEBI chairperson received a salary from ICICI Bank amounting to Rs 12.63 crore.”
He also alleged that she received money from ICICI prudential amounting to Rs 22.41 lakh. “This is again in violation of Section 54 of the SEBI (Employees’ Service) Regulations, 2001 and Section 5 of SEBI’s Code on Conflict of Interests for Board Members (2008)”.
“Between 2021-2023, the current SEBI Chairperson was also in receipt of ESOP from ICICI Bank amounting to Rs 2.84 crore. This is in violation of Section X of the ICICI Employees Stock Option Scheme 2000,” he said.
Khera further said, “The total amount received by the SEBI Chairperson from ICICI from her time of joining SEBI in 2017 up until today totals to Rs 16.80 crore which is shockingly 5.09 times the income she received from SEBI during the same period which amounts to Rs 3.30 crore.”
The Congress spokesperson also posed a volley of questions to Modi on the matter.
“What is the fit and proper criteria for appointment of heads of regulatory bodies? Has the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), headed by the PM, gone through these shocking facts about the SEBI chairperson or is the ACC completely outsourced to the PMO? Was the Prime Minister aware that the SEBI chairperson was holding an office of profit and receiving salary/income from ICICI during her time at SEBI? Who is protecting the SEBI chairperson and why? The prime minister should come clean and give answers to these questions,” he said.
Meanwhile, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said on X, “Narendra Modi ji, for 10 years, you have tried your best to crush the autonomy and independence of India’s long-standing institutions to help your crony friends. We saw this in the case of appointments in CBI, ED, RBI, CEC; now we are facing the same in SEBI.”
“You have appointed the first lateral entry chairperson of SEBI without any due diligence, this has put a black stain on its reputation and belittled the integrity of the market regulator. After all, SEBI protects the hard-earned money of small and middle-income investors,’ he said.
Kharge, who is also the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha said, “We demand that the Supreme Court should take cognizance of these fresh revelations. The SEBI chairperson should be dismissed immediately. There should be a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) investigation of the Adani Mega Scam. Since the SEBI chief was appointed by the Modi-(Amit) Shah led committee, they cannot absolve themselves from the new revelations involving charges of corruption.”