MUMBAI: Sebi chief Madhabi Puri Buch and husband Dhaval on Friday issued a strong rebuttal of all the charges of conflict of interest levelled by Congress, asserting that the “false, incorrect, malicious and motivated” allegations were based on information disclosed in their tax returns, which had been “fraudulently and illegally obtained”.
Without naming anyone in the six-page statement, the second by the couple in just over a month since the allegations were first made by short-seller Hindenburg Research, said that Puri Buch had not only made all disclosures, including her shareholding in consulting firms Agora Advisory and Agora Partners, while at Sebi, she did not deal with any of the clients of these two entities as well as M&M, ICICI, Pidilite Industries, Wockhardt, Dr Reddy’s, Sembcorp, Visu Leasing and Alvarex and Marsal.
The facts, transparently reflected in our income tax returns, have been twisted deliberately to create a false narrative. Further, going by the pattern of creating a false narrative at periodic intervals, it appears that the allegations are being made in instalments, only to keep the pot boiling. If the objective had been to arrive at the truth rather than to malign individuals and institutions with distortions of facts, we wonder why all allegations would not be brought out, in public, at one go. We would then have given all the facts at one go,” the statement said.
Without ruling out the possibility of “allegations being made repeatedly in instalments” in the future, if the narrative was motivated, the couple said they had the right to seek legal recourse. Amid allegations by Congress over the last few weeks, Buchs had chosen to stay silent after they refuted Hindenburg’s claims of conflict of interest in cases dealing with Adani Group.
“The avalanche of revelations on the multiple conflict of interests that sadly define the tenure of the Sebi chairperson continues tomorrow at 11 am. My colleague @Pawankhera will unveil a new set of our findings based on solid research and investigation. So far, the defence of the Sebi chairperson has been very feeble and along expected lines. Tomorrow will be a shock which cannot be brushed aside by the non-biological PM,” says Jairam Ramesh, secretary general at Congress party, in-charge of communication.
The Buchs said that Dhaval – an engineer from IIT Delhi with 35 years of experience and a strong reputation after stints at Unilever – had taken up consulting assignments under a company structure to “transparently isolate” the income and report them separately from his personal income and expenses.
“There seems to be an assumption that when a spouse of a senior government official is appointed as an advisor, it must be attributed to factors beyond professional merit. Such assumptions overlook the strength of qualifications and expertise and reach conclusions that are most unfortunate,” the statement said.
They also regretted the need to justify decisions of reputed companies based on Dhaval’s expertise.
They dismissed allegations of impropriety in the receipt of rental income from a property leased to a Wockhardt-linked company, saying that Puri Buch did not deal with files related to the drug company that faced Sebi probe. Explaining how investigations were conducted at Sebi, the statement underlined that no probe-related files go to the chairperson.
“Given the all-India remit of Sebi’s responsibilities, which encompass hundreds of investigations, thousands of surveillance alerts, hundreds of approvals, and hundreds of orders annually, the chairperson is usually not even aware of specific cases, as they are handled in the normal course by other designated officials as per Delegation of Powers which have always been in place,” the Buchs said adding that the rental income from the jointly held property was completely in line with market rates.
Relating to money received from ICICI Bank and group companies, the statement said that the stock options that Puri Buch received years after her retirement from the group were as per its policies for retired employees. They also clarified that the money received from ICICI Prudential Life Insurance were part of the annuity plan that she had subscribed to while working for ICICI Bank. The payments were coming in now.
About the allegations that while the Sebi chief exercised her options under the bank’s ESOP, payment of TDS was borne by the bank, they said that as per the lender’s policies TDS was paid by the employees to the bank who in turn remitted it to the govt. For Buch also, the same process was followed.
Without naming anyone in the six-page statement, the second by the couple in just over a month since the allegations were first made by short-seller Hindenburg Research, said that Puri Buch had not only made all disclosures, including her shareholding in consulting firms Agora Advisory and Agora Partners, while at Sebi, she did not deal with any of the clients of these two entities as well as M&M, ICICI, Pidilite Industries, Wockhardt, Dr Reddy’s, Sembcorp, Visu Leasing and Alvarex and Marsal.
The facts, transparently reflected in our income tax returns, have been twisted deliberately to create a false narrative. Further, going by the pattern of creating a false narrative at periodic intervals, it appears that the allegations are being made in instalments, only to keep the pot boiling. If the objective had been to arrive at the truth rather than to malign individuals and institutions with distortions of facts, we wonder why all allegations would not be brought out, in public, at one go. We would then have given all the facts at one go,” the statement said.
Without ruling out the possibility of “allegations being made repeatedly in instalments” in the future, if the narrative was motivated, the couple said they had the right to seek legal recourse. Amid allegations by Congress over the last few weeks, Buchs had chosen to stay silent after they refuted Hindenburg’s claims of conflict of interest in cases dealing with Adani Group.
“The avalanche of revelations on the multiple conflict of interests that sadly define the tenure of the Sebi chairperson continues tomorrow at 11 am. My colleague @Pawankhera will unveil a new set of our findings based on solid research and investigation. So far, the defence of the Sebi chairperson has been very feeble and along expected lines. Tomorrow will be a shock which cannot be brushed aside by the non-biological PM,” says Jairam Ramesh, secretary general at Congress party, in-charge of communication.
The Buchs said that Dhaval – an engineer from IIT Delhi with 35 years of experience and a strong reputation after stints at Unilever – had taken up consulting assignments under a company structure to “transparently isolate” the income and report them separately from his personal income and expenses.
“There seems to be an assumption that when a spouse of a senior government official is appointed as an advisor, it must be attributed to factors beyond professional merit. Such assumptions overlook the strength of qualifications and expertise and reach conclusions that are most unfortunate,” the statement said.
They also regretted the need to justify decisions of reputed companies based on Dhaval’s expertise.
They dismissed allegations of impropriety in the receipt of rental income from a property leased to a Wockhardt-linked company, saying that Puri Buch did not deal with files related to the drug company that faced Sebi probe. Explaining how investigations were conducted at Sebi, the statement underlined that no probe-related files go to the chairperson.
“Given the all-India remit of Sebi’s responsibilities, which encompass hundreds of investigations, thousands of surveillance alerts, hundreds of approvals, and hundreds of orders annually, the chairperson is usually not even aware of specific cases, as they are handled in the normal course by other designated officials as per Delegation of Powers which have always been in place,” the Buchs said adding that the rental income from the jointly held property was completely in line with market rates.
Relating to money received from ICICI Bank and group companies, the statement said that the stock options that Puri Buch received years after her retirement from the group were as per its policies for retired employees. They also clarified that the money received from ICICI Prudential Life Insurance were part of the annuity plan that she had subscribed to while working for ICICI Bank. The payments were coming in now.
About the allegations that while the Sebi chief exercised her options under the bank’s ESOP, payment of TDS was borne by the bank, they said that as per the lender’s policies TDS was paid by the employees to the bank who in turn remitted it to the govt. For Buch also, the same process was followed.
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