Congress brings fresh charges against Madhabi Buch, another SEBI member

The Congress has brought a fresh wave of allegations against SEBI chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch.

First, Congress leader Pawan Khera announced at a press briefing on Tuesday (October 29), Buch rented out a property to Green World Buildcon and Infra Pvt Ltd, a company owned by Mukul and Vipul Bansal.

However, Mukul Bansal is also part of the senior management of Indiabulls Group, which faced several regulatory actions from SEBI between 2021 and 2022. During this time, she was earning rental income from the said property, Khera said.

Also read: SEBI's Madhabi Buch fails to appear before PAC meeting; what happens now?

Besides SEBI, the company has also been pulled up by other regulators and courts, he added.

Connection with Paradise Papers

Second, Khera claimed, Buch also held unlisted shares of a company that was connected with Paradise Papers (2017). He said Buch was one of the initial shareholders of Predible Health Pvt Ltd incorporated on May 2, 2016. “She continued to hold shares in the company even after becoming a full-time member of SEBI,” he alleged.

He claimed that Buch sold the shares to a US-based company (M/s Nference Inc.) in FY 2021-22, making returns worth 226 times the initial investment in five years. Predible had received funds under the Startup India initiative of the Government of India as well.

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However, another of Predible’s investors was Jacesa Investments Ltd, which was listed in offshore leaks by Paradise Papers shared by ICIJ. “This implies that Jacesa Investments is compromised and needs to be investigated in detail,” Khera added.

Charges against another SEBI member

Not only Buch, Khera also brought similar allegations against another full-time SEBI member Ananth Narayan. The Congress leader claimed he also received Rs 64.8 lakhs in rent from a stock broker employed with a brokerage firm for a property in Mumbai. “The tenant is Thangam Vinod Rajakumar, a stock broker hired by brokerage firm IMC India Securities, which is regulated by SEBI,” Khera said.

Khera pointed out that this suggested a potential conflict of interest as Narayan is a member of the Market Intermediaries Regulation and Supervision Department (MIRSD), which oversees the regulation of brokers. He added that Narayan also holds shares worth Rs 70 crore of Incred Capital, which also comes under the purview of SEBI’s investigation.

Also read: Never sought favours from SEBI, says Mahindra as Congress levels fresh allegations against Buch

Buch under a cloud

Buch, under a cloud over allegations of conflict of interest — specifically with the Adani Group — made by US-based short-seller Hindenburg Research, skipped a session with the Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee last week.

The Congress has also made several similar allegations against her since then. Buch has largely maintained silence regarding these allegations, rubbishing some but not providing too many details.