In a statement issued on Sunday evening, Madhabi Buch and her husband accused Hindenburg Research of trying to tarnish SEBI's credibility and engaging in character assassination of its chairman.

The Hindenburg Report: Sebi chief Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband Dhaval issued their first statement on the latest Hindenburg Research report that alleged Buch's holdings in offshore funds linked to the Adani group, leading to the regulator's failure to take decisive action against billionaire Gautam Adani. group

In a statement issued on Sunday evening, Madhabi Buch and her husband accused Hindenburg Research of trying to tarnish SEBI's credibility and engaging in character assassination of its chairman.

“Hindenburg has been served with show cause notices for various violations in India. It is unfortunate that instead of responding to the show cause notice, they have chosen to attack the credibility of SEBI and attempt to assassinate the character of the SEBI Chairman,” the statement said.

Responding to allegations made by a US-based short-seller, Buchs said his investment in a fund promoted by IIFL Wealth Management was made as a Singapore-based private citizen, two years before Madhabi joined SEBI as a full-time member.

According to the statement, two of Madhabi's consulting firms “became defunct” immediately after her appointment as a full-time member of Sebi in 2017, with her husband, Dhaval Buch, a senior consultant at Blackstone since 2019, not actually associated with the firm. The estate side of a private equity major.

On Sunday, Hindenburg Research released a scathing report, which claimed that Sebi was “unwilling” to take action against the Adani group because the watchdog's chief, Madhabi Buch, had participated in offshore funds linked to the group.

Butch called the short-seller's allegations “baseless” in a statement.

Hindenburg Adani Report

In January 2023, Hindenburg Research, a US-based firm, published an impeachment report against the Adani Group, which engaged in short-selling of stocks, alleging insider trading, stock market violations and other financial irregularities.

The Hindenburg report led to a sharp fall in Adani Group's share prices, although the group denied the allegations.

In its report, Hindenburg alleged stock manipulation and fraud by the Adani group and alleged that the group had artificially inflated its stock prices.

The damning allegations, published days before Adani Enterprises issued a $2.5 billion follow-up public offering, sent shares of various Adani group companies plummeting.

(with input from agencies)