Amid the ongoing controversy surrounding Hindenburg Research’s claims against the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch, the Congress has demanded her resignation and requested the Supreme Court to transfer the Adani investigation to the CBI or a Special Investigation Team alleging the “likelihood of SEBI’s compromise”.

The Congress also pushed for an immediate Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to probe what it terms the “Modani mega scam,” involving a so-called “self-anointed non-biological PM and a perfectly biological businessman.”

These demands followed SEBI’s statement that it has thoroughly investigated allegations against the Adani Group, and the chairperson recused herself as needed.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh criticised SEBI’s portrayal of its actions as excessively diligent, noting the agency’s claim of issuing 100 summonses, sending 1,100 letters and emails, and reviewing 300 documents spanning 12,000 pages.

“This must have been very exhausting, but it diverts attention from the core issues involved. Actions matter, not activities,” Ramesh said in a statement shared on X.

“On February 14, 2023, I had written to the SEBI chairperson urging SEBI to play its role as the steward of India’s financial markets on behalf of the crores of Indians who have faith in the fairness of India’s financial markets. I never received a reply,” the Congress leader said.

On March 3, 2023, the Supreme Court instructed SEBI to “expeditiously conclude the investigation” into accusations of stock manipulation and accounting fraud against the Adani Group within two months. However, 18 months later, SEBI has disclosed that a key part of the investigation—potentially concerning whether Adani breached Rule 19A on minimum public shareholding—remains unfinished.

“The fact is that SEBI’s seeming inability to close two of its 24 investigations delayed the publication of its findings for over a year. This delay conveniently allowed the prime minister to navigate an entire general election without addressing his role in facilitating his close friend’s illicit activities,” Ramesh alleged.

Despite the Adani Group’s assertion of having received a ‘clean chit’, SEBI has reportedly issued show-cause notices to several Adani companies regarding these allegations. Ramesh pointed out that the slow pace of these investigations, especially when contrasted with the rapid “justice” typically meted out by the agencies to opposition leaders, remains inexplicable.

“Moreover, recent revelations raise disturbing questions about SEBI’s integrity and conduct in investigating the Adani mega scam,” he said.

“SEBI, long considered a trustworthy global financial market regulator, is now under scrutiny. It is shocking to discover that SEBI chairperson and her husband invested in the same opaque Bermuda and Mauritius-based offshore funds where Vinod Adani and his close associates, Chang Chung-Ling and Nasser Ali Shaban Ahli, also invested,” he said.

Ramesh added that these funds were managed by Anil Ahuja, a close friend of the Buchs and an independent director in Adani Enterprises until May 31, 2017, a period that overlapped with the SEBI chairperson’s earlier tenure as a whole-time member of SEBI.

“The illusion that the SEBI chairperson and her husband had separated their finances has been shattered by the revelation that after joining SEBI, she transacted in the fund from her personal email account on February 25, 2018. Ironically, these funds are part of the same vehicles (Global Opportunities Fund and Global Dynamic Opportunities Fund) that Chang and Ahli reportedly used to bypass Rule 19A, the very violation that SEBI is currently investigating,” he said.

“While 360 ONE, the fund manager, claimed that IPE Plus 1 Fund made no investments in the Adani Group, it remains silent on whether Vinod Adani, Chang, or Ahli were investors in that fund alongside the Buchs. It also fails to clarify the connections between the Global Opportunities Fund, the Global Dynamic Opportunities Fund, and the IPE Plus 1 Fund,” Ramesh said in his statement.

He further said that the Adani mega scam goes beyond the 24 issues currently under SEBI’s scrutiny. It includes questions about the origin of the Rs 20,000 crore in alleged benami investments, over-invoicing in coal and power equipment, and money laundering.

Ramesh also alleged that the scam involves the granting of monopolies to the Adani Group in crucial infrastructure sectors and the manipulation of Indian foreign policy to secure Adani assets in controversial locations like Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Hindenburg Research recently accused SEBI Chairperson Madhabi Buch and her husband of having stakes in obscure offshore funds linked to the alleged Adani money siphoning scandal. Both Buch and her husband have denied these claims. The Adani Group has dismissed the latest allegations as malicious and stated that it has no commercial ties with the SEBI chairperson or her husband.