SEBI Chairperson Madhabi Buch and her husband Dhaval Buch issued a detailed statement in response to the allegations made by Hindenburg on August 10, 2024. They emphasized their commitment to complete transparency and addressed the matters related to them personally, while SEBI would respond to any allegations against the institution independently.
Madhabi and Dhaval’s joint statement included the following points:
1. Madhabi, an alumnus of IIM Ahmedabad, has built a corporate career over two decades in banking and financial services, primarily with the ICICI Group.
2. Dhaval Buch, an alumnus of IIT Delhi, has had a 35-year corporate career at Hindustan Unilever Limited in India and Unilever globally as part of its senior management team. They accumulated their savings through salaries, bonuses, and stock options. The allegations concerning his investments and government salary are baseless and malicious.
3. Dhaval worked in London and Singapore from 2010 to 2019 with Unilever.
4. Madhabi lived and worked in Singapore from 2011 to March 2017, initially with a private equity firm and later as a consultant.
5. They made the investment mentioned in the Hindenburg report in 2015, while they were private citizens in Singapore, about two years before Madhabi joined SEBI as a full-time member.
6. They decided to invest in the fund due to the strong reputation of its Chief Investment Officer, Anil Ahuja, a long-time friend of Dhaval from school and IIT Delhi, with a distinguished career in investment. They redeemed the investment when Ahuja left the fund in 2018.
7. Ahuja confirmed that he did not invest in any bonds, equities, or derivatives of any Adani Group company.
8. Dhaval’s appointment in 2019 as a senior advisor to Blackstone Private Equity was based on his expertise in supply chain management and occurred before Madhabi became SEBI chairman. This appointment has been publicly known. Dhaval has never been involved with Blackstone’s real estate division.
9. After his appointment, Madhabi included the Blackstone Group on her disapproval list with SEBI.
10. Over the last two years, SEBI has issued over 300 circulars, including initiatives for “ease of doing business” in line with SEBI’s developmental mandate. The SEBI board, not the chairman, approves all regulations after extensive public consultation. The allegations that SEBI’s actions were biased in favor of any individual are baseless and malicious.
11. Madhabi deactivated two consulting companies he established in Singapore, one in India and one in Singapore, shortly after joining SEBI. He disclosed these companies and his shareholding to SEBI.
12. After retiring from Unilever in 2019, Dhaval Buch began his consultancy practice through these companies, leveraging his expertise in supply chains to work with major Indian industry clients. Any attempt to link this income to Madhabi’s government salary is malicious.
13. Dhaval disclosed the transfer of shareholding in the Singapore unit to Singapore and Indian tax authorities, as well as SEBI.
14. SEBI enforces strong disclosure and recusal norms as per its Code of Conduct. Madhabi and Dhaval have diligently adhered to all these norms.
15. Hindenburg has received a ‘show cause’ notice for various violations in India. Instead of addressing this notice, they chose to attack SEBI’s credibility and attempt to discredit the SEBI Chairperson.
Also Read: Adani Group Dismisses Hindenburg Report As Recycled And Baseless Claims
