Hindenburg links Sebi chief to Adani offshore fund ‘scandal’

New Delhi, August 10

US short-seller Hindenburg Research launched a fresh broadside against market regulator Sebi chairperson Madhabi Buch, alleging she and her husband had stakes in obscure offshore funds used in the Adani money siphoning scandal.

In a blogpost, Hindenburg said 18 months since its damning report on Adani, “Sebi has shown a surprising lack of interest in Adani’s alleged undisclosed web of Mauritius and offshore shell entities.”

Citing “whistleblower documents”, it said, “Buch and her husband had stakes in both obscure offshore funds used in the Adani money siphoning scandal.” Obscure offshore Bermuda and Mauritius funds, allegedly controlled by Vinod Adani, elder brother of group chairman Gautam Adani, are alleged to have been used to round-trip funds and inflate stock price.

Hindenburg said, “A declaration of funds, signed by a principal at IIFL states that the source of the investment is

‘salary’ and the couple’s net worth is estimated at $10 mn”.

Meanwhile, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) called the Hindenburg report explosive and

said it raised serious questions as to why the SEBI chief had refused to investigate the alleged exit poll-stock market scam despite representations by the TMC and INDIA bloc parties. Is SEBI autonomous at all? asked TMC MP Saket Gokhale.