SEBI has abandoned autonomy, brushing allegations under carpet: TMC leader

Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Saket Gokhale. File photo
| Photo Credit: ANI

The Stock Exchange Board of India (SEBI), which is in the centre of a storm following multiple allegations being levelled against its chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch, has “completely abandoned its autonomy”, Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Saket Gokhale said on Friday (September 13, 2024).

Also read: ‘All allegations are false, malicious, and motivated’

As opposition parties continued their attack against the SEBI chief, the TMC leader said any violations that involved the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), like the allegations of a stock market manipulation through exit polls, are being “brushed under the carpet” by the board. 

“SEBI has now completely abandoned its autonomy and is functioning solely on the orders of the ruling party BJP… Therefore, any violation that involves the BJP, like the alleged stock market exit poll scam, is brushed under the carpet,” Gokhale told PTI. 

The TMC was the first opposition party to approach the SEBI, demanding a probe over allegations of stock market manipulations through exit polls after the results of the Lok Sabha elections were declared. 

On June 13, TMC’s Parliamentary party leader in Rajya Sabha Derek O’Brien had written to the board seeking an appointment for a delegation of party leaders to meet Buch. 

A delegation of TMC comprising MPs Kalyan Banerjee, Sagarika Ghose and Saket Gokhale, as well as Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Arvind Sawant and NCP (SP) leader Vidya Chavan, had on June 18 submitted a letter to the SEBI demanding a probe in the allegations of stock market manipulation. 

SEBI in reply had shared written replies to questions from Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.  US short-seller Hindenburg Research had last month alleged that the SEBI chairperson and her husband had stakes in obscure offshore funds used in the Adani money siphoning scandal. Buch had categorically denied the allegation.

In January last year, Hindenburg Research, which in the past has shorted, or bet against, companies like electric truck maker Nikola Corp and Twitter (now X), accused Adani Group of pulling “the largest con in corporate history” by using a web of companies in tax havens to inflate its revenue and manipulate stock prices, even as debt piled up.

After the Hindenburg report, the Supreme Court asked market regulator SEBI to complete its investigation and set up a separate expert panel to look into regulatory lapses. The panel did not give any adverse report on Adani and the apex court too stated that no other probe other than the one being done by Sebi was required.

TMC leader Mahua Moitra meanwhile has approached the Lokpal seeking a probe in the allegations against Buch.  Moitra shared a screenshot of submission of both the online complaint and the physical copy on X.

“My Lokpal complaint against Ms. Puri-Buch has been filed electronically and in physical form. Lokpal must within 30 days refer it to CBI/ED for a preliminary investigation and then a full FIR enquiry,” Moitra said.

“Every single entity involved needs to be summoned and every link investigated,” she added.

The Congress has also made a series of allegations of irregularities against Buch.

This includes Buch and her husband having received rental income from a Mumbai firm that has been investigated by the SEBI for multiple cases.

The Congress has also alleged that the SEBI chairperson had a 99 per cent stake in a firm when it provided consultancy services to the Mahindra and Mahindra Group and her husband received Rs 4.78 crore as income from the conglomerate while she was adjudicating cases of the same group.