The new Hindenburg report claimed that Sebi chairperson Madhabi Buch and her husband had stakes in offshore entities involved in the alleged Adani money siphoning scandal.
In a statement, Adani group described the allegations as “malicious, mischievous and manipulative selections of publicly available information to arrive at pre-determined conclusions for personal profiteering with wanton disregard for facts and the law.”
“We completely reject these allegations against the Adani Group which are a recycling of discredited claims that have been thoroughly investigated, proven to be baseless and already dismissed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in January 2024,” the Adani Group said in its statement.
The group emphasized that their overseas holding structure is fully transparent, with all relevant details regularly disclosed in numerous public documents.
The statement also clarified that Anil Ahuja, mentioned in the allegations, had previously served as a nominee director and later as a director in Adani companies, but the group currently has no commercial relationship with the individuals or matters mentioned in the report.
“The Adani Group has absolutely no commercial relationship with the individuals or matters mentioned in this calculated deliberate effort to malign our standing. We remain steadfastly committed to transparency and compliance with all legal and regulatory requirements,” it said.
Hindenburg Research, in its report, claimed that the Sebi chairperson and her husband had hidden stakes in the same obscure offshore Bermuda and Mauritius funds used by Vinod Adani, based on documents provided by a whistleblower and investigations carried out by other entities.
The report stated that the couple had opened an account with IPE Plus Fund 1 in Singapore in June 2015, with a declaration of funds signed by a principal at IIFL stating that the source of the investment was “salary” and estimating the couple’s net worth at $10 million.
This latest development comes after Hindenburg’s January 2023 report accusing the Adani Group of financial irregularities, which led to a significant drop in the company’s stock price. The Adani Group had previously rubbished these claims, which alleged stock manipulation and fraud by the conglomerate, resulting in a sharp fall in the shares of various Adani group companies’ stocks, reportedly amounting to over USD 100 billion.
Meanwhile, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband Dhaval Buch have also refuted the allegations made against them by Hindenburg Research, saying that the report was “devoid of any truth”.
In a joint statement, Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband strongly denied the allegations, stating, “In the context of allegations made in the Hindenburg Report dated August 10, 2024, against us, we would like to state that we strongly deny the baseless allegations and insinuations made in the report. The same are devoid of any truth. Our life and finances are an open book. All disclosures as required have already been furnished to SEBI over the years. We have no hesitation in disclosing any and all financial documents, including those that relate to the period when we were strictly private citizens, to any and every authority that may seek them. Further, in the interest of complete transparency, we would be issuing a detailed statement in due course.”
The couple also expressed their disappointment and accused Hindenburg of resorting to character assassination in response to the regulatory measures. They emphasized that their life and finances are transparent and that they have consistently provided all necessary disclosures to SEBI over the years.