October 30, 2024 – Rahul Gandhi has trained his guns on Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch accusing her of protecting industrialist Gautam Adani, his valuations and reputation. These allegations were made by the Leader of the Opposition in two videos posted on his YouTube channel.

The video features him and the Congress’ media and publicity department head Pawan Khera in which they talk about the Sebi chairperson’s alleged conflicts of interest.

The Congress has raised these issues, is probing these scams and letting the public know the truth, Gandhi said.

The first video Buch Bachao Syndicate was released on October 27. In that video, Khera is seen explaining to Gandhi his probe into the Hindenburg-Adani-Buch issue and the latter commented that they had enough documents to bring down the government. Khera said 40 crore investors in the stock market were at risk.

A second video Adani Bachao Syndicate was released later. In this video Khera is seen explaining to Gandhi the conflicts of interest allegations against Buch. He alleges that there are bigger powers behind Buch that were at work, obviously referring to the Adani Group.

The role of Sebi chairperson, says the Congress, is to ensure that the security of the stock market is not at risk. And that investment of the common people is safe. However, when the chairperson is involved in manipulating the market to benefit a single player then everyone’s money is at risk, it said.

“That is what is happening with the Madhabi Buch scandal. She has been placed in this position by Prime Minister Modi and Home Minster Amit Shah to give Adani a clean chit in allegations of stock manipulation,” the Congress alleged.

Gandhi says in his video that the Buch scandal goes deeper than imagined. The Sebi head, entrusted with the protection of retail investors, may have been influencing the system to safeguard Adani’s interests and his inflated valuations, he alleges.

Those entrusted with protecting common Indians and their investments have abrogated their responsibilities and are indulging in wide scale corruption and malpractice, Gandhi says.

Modi is protecting Buch to avoid any embarrassing disclosures that she might make that could take him down with her, adds the Congress leader.

“Corporate world mein yeh batein chal rahi hain (the buzz is that) she is blackmailing the government, she is blackmailing the Prime Minister,” Khera said in the video.

 “So she is basically protecting him, his valuation, his reputation,” Gandhi replied.

“Institutional collapse has now given way to a more dangerous form of cronyism - Adani Bachao,” Rahul says in the video. “The current regime is no longer merely encouraging monopolies, it’s actively concentrating the nation’s wealth in the hands of a few.”

Hindenburg Research, a US-based short seller, had claimed in August that Buch and her husband Dhaval Buch had investments in obscure offshore entities in Bermuda and Mauritius that were also used by Vinod Adani, elder brother of Gautam Adani, to invest in Indian markets and drive up stock prices of group firms.

Hindenburg had then said in a report: “We suspect Sebi’s unwillingness to take meaningful action against suspect offshore shareholders in the Adani Group may stem from (the) Chairperson’s complicity in using the exact same funds used by Vinod Adani, brother of Gautam Adani.

“To date, Sebi has taken no action against other suspected Adani shareholders operated by IIFL: EM Resurgent Fund and Emerging India Focus Funds,” the short-seller had stated.

Earlier this month, the Sebi chief skipped a meeting with the Parliamentary Accounts Committee (PAC) because many felt she feared she could be grilled on her various conflicts of interest.

"Why is Madhabi Buch reluctant to answer questions before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament? Who is behind the plan to protect her from being answerable to the PAC? Is there a well-thought-out conspiracy to risk the hard-earned investments of crores of small-medium investors and benefit Modi ji's dear friend Adani?" Khera asked in a statement.

With inputs from media reports