Hindenburg-Adani Case: ‘Thoda zyada ho gaya’, Deepak Shenoy on Hindenburg’s allegations against Sebi Chief Madhabi Buch

Hindenburg Research’s latest allegations against Sebi chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband Dhaval Buch seem to have gone into sensationalism and hardly have any substance, believes Deepak Shenoy, CEO of Capitalmind.

“Thoda zyada ho gaya, i feel, basically they have gone into sensationalism. There is hardly any substance,” Shenoy replied to a post on social media platform X.

The US-based short seller, in a blog post on August 10, levelled allegations of Sebi chief having a stake in obscure offshore entities used in the alleged ‘Adani money siphoning scandal’.

Shenoy replied to a post by Ajay Rotti, Founder of Tax Compaas, who wrote that the Hindenburg report was “discrediting the Chairperson”.

“Half of the report is dedicated to a ridiculous link of the Chairperson encouraging investments in REITs and how that benefits Blackstone! And how Backstone being her husband's client creates a conflict of interest!

That is how stretched this piece is!!! While they say SEBI Chairperson is conflicted and hence the investigation is slow.... what they are actually doing is discrediting the Chairperson so that the investigation and its results are discredited!!!,” Rotti said.

Hindenburg has alleged that India’s capital market regulator Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) was unwilling to act on its earlier Adani report published in January 2023 because SEBI chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch had investments in offshore funds that had links with the Adani Group.

Sebi Chair's Reply

Sebi chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband Dhaval Buch have denied the allegations, terming them ‘baseless’ and an attempted ‘character assassination’.

“...we would like to state that we strongly deny the baseless allegations and insinuations made in the report. The same are devoid of any truth. Our life and finances are an open book. All disclosures as required have already been furnished to SEBI over the years,” Madhabi and Dhaval Buch said in a statement.

“It is unfortunate that Hindenburg Research against whom SEBI has taken an Enforcement action and issued a show cause notice has chosen to attempt character assassination in response to the same,” they added saying that a detailed statement would be issued in due course.

Meanwhile, Adani Group and its Chairman Gautam Adani have on multiple occasions vehemently denied all the allegations leveled by Hindenburg Research in the January 2023 report.

Read Hindenburg-Adani Case LIVE Updates here