US-based short-seller Hindenburg Research on Saturday alleged that SEBI Chairperson Madhabi Buch and her husband, Dhaval Buch, held hidden stakes in the same 'obscure' offshore Bermuda and Mauritius funds used by Vinod Adani, brother of billionaire Gautam Adani, in what is described as the money 'siphoning scandal'.
Hindenburg suggested that this is why India’s capital market regulator was not keen to thoroughly investigate the Adani Group.
In January 2023, Hindenburg published a critical report accusing the Adani Group of stock manipulation and accounting fraud, which led to a significant decline in the company's stock price.
The Adani Group has consistently denied these allegations, and the Supreme Court has supported its stance.
Last year, the Apex Court noted that SEBI had not achieved significant results in its investigation into the Adani matter.
"We suspect SEBI’s reluctance to take meaningful action against suspected offshore shareholders in the Adani Group may be due to Chairperson Madhabi Buch’s involvement with the same funds used by Vinod Adani," the short-seller stated in a new report released late on Saturday.
According to Hindenburg, whistleblower documents indicate that Buch and her husband first opened an account with IPE Plus Fund 1 on June 5, 2015, in Singapore.
"'IPE Plus Fund" is a small offshore Mauritius fund set up by an Adani director through India Infoline (IIFL), a listed wealth management firm with ties to the German Wirecard scandal. Vinod Adani reportedly used this structure to invest in Indian markets with funds allegedly siphoned from over-invoicing of power equipment to the Adani Group," Hindenburg said.
The report added, "If SEBI really wanted to find the offshore fund holders, perhaps the SEBI Chairperson could have started by looking in the mirror. We find it unsurprising that SEBI was reluctant to follow a trail that may have led to its own chairperson."
Notably, Buch was appointed a "whole-time member" of SEBI in April 2017.
Hindenburg’s latest report also noted that a declaration of funds, signed by a principal at IIFL, states that the source of the investment is "salary" and that the couple’s net worth is estimated at $10 million.
Hindenburg mentioned that on February 25, 2018, Buch personally wrote to India Infoline using her private Gmail account, conducting business through her husband’s name, to redeem units in the fund.
Additionally, on March 22, 2017, just weeks before Buch’s politically sensitive appointment, her husband, Dhaval, wrote to Mauritius fund administrator Trident Trust regarding their investment in the Global Dynamic Opportunities Fund (GDOF).
Hindenburg claimed this is the same Mauritius-registered "cell" of the fund found several layers deep in a convoluted structure reportedly used by Vinod Adani.
