Mumbai: Congress protests, seeks JPC to probe Hindenburg allegations against SEBI chief, Adani group

Mumbai Congress leaders and party workers on Thursday protested in the city and demanded a joint parliamentary committee JPC must probe the allegations against the SEBI chief and Adani group reported the PTICongress MP Varsha Gaikwad on Thursday said that a JPC must probe the allegations in the Hindenburg report against Securities and Exchange Board SEBI chairperson Madhabi Buch and the Adani group as per the PTILeading a protest of her party outside the Enforcement Directorate ED office in south Mumbai Lok Sabha MP Gaikwad said the central probe agency raids opposition leaders but is turning a blind eye in the SEBIAdani caseOur demand is that JPC must be formed to probe the Hindenburg allegations Gaikwad said and questioned why Buch had not yet resigned as SEBI chiefMadhabi Buch and her husband have denied the allegations levelled against them as baseless and asserted that their finances are an open book while the Adani Group has termed Hindenburg Researchs latest allegations as malicious the news agency reportedThe group has claimed it has no commercial relationship with the SEBI chairperson or her husbandGujarat Congress demands JPC probe into Hindenburg allegations says SEBI chief must goMeanwhile the Congress on Thursday stepped up its demand for a joint parliamentary committee JPC probe into the latest allegations made by USbased shortseller Hindenburg Research against the Securities and Exchange Board of India SEBI chairperson and the Adani Group reported the PTIAddressing a press conference All India Mahila Congress president and party spokesperson Alka Lamba sought to know why SEBI chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch has not resigned after a Hindenburg report released nearly two weeks ago levelled allegations of a conflict of interest against herThe latest Hindenburg report has claimed the SEBI chief and her husband Dhaval Buch had stakes in obscure offshore funds used in the alleged Adani money siphoning scandal inviting a strong rebuttal from them and the prominent business conglomerateOur demand is that a JPC be formed to investigate the allegations Such a committee should have members from all parties Lamba saidThe demand for a JPC investigation made by the Indian National Congress into the scam goes far beyond revelations made by Hindenburg Researchs reports first of which was released in early 2023 she said according to the PTIThe Hindenburg allegations are limited to those that deal with capital markets stock manipulation accounting fraud and a conflict of interest in regulatory agencies like the SEBI Hindenburg allegations are only the tip of the iceberg Only a JPC can investigate and unravel the true and full extent of the scam the Congress spokesperson insistedQuoting from the report Lamba attacked the SEBI chief and alleged impropriety on her partIt turns out the SEBI chairperson was invested in funds that are part of the same family of 360 ONE funds that Vinod Adani brother of billionaire Gautam Adani used to launder the proceeds of over invoiced power equipment to violate the very rules on ownership that the market regulator was supposedly investigating she contendedA 2008 SEBI policy prohibits its officials from holding an office of profit andor receiving salary or professional fees from other professional activities The current SEBI chairperson joined the regulator in 2017 and was appointed to the top position in March 2022 Lamba statedThe Congress spokesperson alleged Puri Buch has violated the SEBI policyDuring those years 201722 her consulting firm Agora Advisory Pvt Ltd in which Dhaval Buch her husband has a 99 per cent shareholding earned a revenue of Rs 371 crore 442025 according to public documents she said as per the PTIwith PTI inputs