SEBI chief, husband issue detailed rebuttal to Hindenburg's 'malicious' allegations

SEBI Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband, Dhaval Buch, on Sunday issued a detailed response to the accusations made by US short-seller Hindenburg Research, saying it is unfortunate that instead of replying to the show-cause notice, they have chosen to attack the credibility of the SEBI and attempt character assassination of the SEBI Chairperson.

In the new statement released in their personal capacity, the couple firmly addressed all the allegations, providing a detailed rebuttal and emphasised that the contested investment occurred before Madhabi's tenure at SEBI.

"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 statement read.

"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, J.P. Morgan and 3i Group plc, had many decades of a strong investing career," it added.

The fact that these were the drivers of the investment decision is borne out by the fact that when, in 2018, Ahuja left his position as CIO of the fund, "we redeemed the investment in that fund".

"As confirmed by Ahuja, at no point in time did the fund invest in any bond, equity, or derivative...," the couple stressed.

The statement said that Dhaval's appointment, in 2019, as Senior Advisor to Blackstone Private Equity was on account of his deep expertise in Supply Chain management.

"Thus, his appointment pre-dates Madhabi's appointment as SEBI Chairperson. This appointment has been in the public domain ever since. At no time has Dhaval been associated with the Real Estate side of Blackstone. On his appointment, the Blackstone Group was immediately added to Madhabi's recusal list maintained with SEBI," the statement read.

The two consulting companies set up by Madhabi during her stay in Singapore, one in India and one in Singapore, became immediately dormant on her appointment with SEBI. These companies (and her shareholding in them) were explicitly part of her disclosures to SEBI.

The statement said that after Dhaval retired from Unilever in 2019, he started his own consultancy practice through these companies.

"Dhaval's deep expertise in Supply Chain allowed him to work with prominent clients in the Indian industry. Thus, linking accruals in these companies to Madhabi's current government salary is malicious," it noted.

The couple said that SEBI has strong institutional mechanisms of disclosure and recusal norms as per the code of conduct applicable to its officers.

"Accordingly, all disclosures and recusals have been diligently followed, including disclosures of all securities held or subsequently transferred," they added.

Madhabi is an alumnus of IIM Ahmedabad and has had a corporate career of over two decades in banking and financial services, largely in the ICICI Group.

Dhaval is an alumnus of IIT Delhi and has had a corporate career of 35 years in Hindustan Unilever Limited in India and then in Unilever globally as part of its senior management team.