Complied with guidelines; allegations false: SEBI chief

Sebi chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch on Friday said she had made all necessary disclosures and complied with recusal guidelines in dealing with companies such as Mahindra Group that hired her husband, as she rejected allegations of impropriety as “false, malicious and motivated”.

Buch and her husband Dhaval Buch in a joint statement — the second since US-based short seller Hindenburg Research charged her of not being motivated enough to act on allegations against Adani group due to conflict of interest — also addressed issues raised by opposition Congress over receiving payments from her previous employer ICICI Bank while being a whole time member of Sebi.

The statement said Buch never dealt with any file involving Agora Advisory and Agora Partners — the advisories where she held 99 per cent and continued to earn revenue even after she joined the market regulator body Sebi in 2017.

According to the statement, she never handled files involving the Mahindra Group, Pidilite Industries, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd, Alvarez and Marsal, and Sembcorp — the firms that had employed her husband at some time during her stint at Sebi — as also that pertaining to her previous employer ICICI Bank at any stage after joining the regulator.

The payments that she got from ICICI Bank while being in Sebi pertained to contributory annuity scheme and exercising of ESOPs at various stages over 10 years.

“Sebi’s guidelines permit board members, including the Chairperson, to hold and transact in ESOPs,” Buch’s statement said.

While Hindenburg had alleged that the Buchs had previous investments in a fund that was part of network of funds used by two Adani associates to round-trip money and inflate group stock prices, the Congress alleged conflict of interest in dealings with ICICI, where she worked until 2011, as well as with Mahindra Group and four other companies due to consulting fees given by them to her husband Dhaval Buch.

“We are upright and honest professionals and have led our respective professional lives with transparency and dignity,” the couple said, describing their work record as “unblemished” and that they will demolish all “motivated allegations even in future”.