TMC demands immediate suspension of SEBI chairperson

Kolkata, Aug 11 (PTI) The TMC on Sunday demanded that SEBI chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch should immediately be suspended in the wake of US short-seller Hindenburg Research's allegation that she and her husband had stakes in obscure offshore funds linked to Adani group.

Hindenburg accused Buch and her husband of having undisclosed investments in obscure offshore funds in Bermuda and Mauritius, the same entities allegedly used by Vinod Adani - the elder brother of group chairman Gautam Adani - to round-trip funds and inflate stock prices.

Reacting to the development, senior TMC leader Sukhendu Sekhar Ray said, "SEBI chief should be suspended in no time, and lookout notices must be issued to all airports to prevent her and her husband from leaving the country." The head of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) termed the allegation as "baseless" while Adani group said it never had any commercial relations with Buch.

TMC MP Mahua Moitra said, "One simple point - Chairperson who has invested in (& interacted personally with) very same funds that need investigating, is leading organization entrusted with fiduciary responsibility of finding out other owners of the fund tells Supreme Court & its 6 member committee that it had “drawn a blank” & was a “chicken and egg situation” in its investigation into the “ownership” of 13 entities. What greater conflict of interest and mockery of justice is there?" she said on X.

Later, she also sought answers to several questions.