NEW DELHI: Hindenburg Research, the firm known for its critical report on the Adani Group, has made allegations against Madhabi Puri Buch, the chief of Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). They claim that she had stakes in “obscure offshore entities used in Adani money siphoning scandal”.
This development adds a new layer to the ongoing scrutiny of the Adani Group, which has faced significant allegations of financial misconduct, including fraud and accounting irregularities, resulting in a substantial loss of market value.
This development adds a new layer to the ongoing scrutiny of the Adani Group, which has faced significant allegations of financial misconduct, including fraud and accounting irregularities, resulting in a substantial loss of market value.
Hindenburg’s initial report in January 2023 accused the Adani Group of engaging in various fraudulent activities, leading to a market value erosion of over $150 billion. The report prompted Sebi to investigate the group, including its offshore investments and financial practices.
Recently, SEBI issued a show-cause notice to Hindenburg, alleging that the firm colluded with a US hedge fund to profit from the report by using non-public information.
What the report says
- It has been nearly 18 months since our original report on the Adani Group presented overwhelming evidence that the Indian conglomerate was operating “the largest con in corporate history”. Our report exposed a web of offshore, primarily Mauritius-based shell entities used for suspected billions of dollars of undisclosed related party transactions, undisclosed investment and stock manipulation.
- Since then, despite the evidence, along with over 40 independent media investigations corroborating and expanding on our original work, Indian securities regulator SEBI has taken no public action against the Adani Group.
- “In our July 2024 response to the ‘show cause’ notice [sent by Sebi], we wrote that we found it odd how SEBI—a regulator specifically set up to prevent fraudulent practices – showed little interest in meaningfully pursuing the parties that ran a secret offshore shell empire engaging in billions of dollars of undisclosed related party transactions through public companies while propping up its stocks through a network of sham investment entities.
- “IPE Plus Fund” is a small offshore Mauritius fund set up by an Adani director through India Infoline (IIFL), a wealth management firm with ties to the Wirecard Scandal
- Vinod Adani – brother of Gautam Adani – used this structure to invest in Indian markets with funds allegedly siphoned from over invoicing of power equipment to the Adani Group.
- The current SEBI Chairperson and her husband, Dhaval Buch, had hidden stakes in the exact same obscure offshore Bermuda and Mauritius funds, found in the same complex nested structure, used by Vinod Adani, says the Hindenburg report.
- As per Hindenburg: Madhabi Buch and her husband Dhaval Buch first appear to have opened their account with IPE Plus Fund 1 on June 5, 2015 in Singapore, per whistleblower documents.
(This is a developing story)
