Senior BJP leader and former Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar has cried foul and come out in support of Sebi chairperson Madhabi Buch after she and her husband were accused of having stakes in obscure offshore funds used in the alleged 'Adani money siphoning scandal' in a report published by US short-seller Hindenburg Research on Saturday.
In post on social media platform 'X', Chandrasekhar, launched a scathing attack on Congress and pointed fingers at the grand old party for allegedly "partnering" with Hindenburg to "destabilize" and "discredit one of the world's strongest financial systems and create chaos in the world's fastest growing economy, i.e. India".
"Lets be clear - this attack on @SEBI_India by a foreign bank #Hindenburg, is an obvious partnership wth the Cong and has a ominous motive and goal", he wrote in his post.
"I hv (have) read this "report", its no smoking gun - its classic Cong (Congress) style innuendo & lies glued together wth a few grains of truth - aimed at discrediting regulator and causng chaos & losses in markets for investors - thus slowing down bullish sentiments (sic)", he added.
Defending the work done by PM Narendra Modi in "rebuilding" the country's financial sector, Chandrasekhar further said, "Indias financial sector has been rebuilt in last 10 years by @narendramodi - from the shattered, crony lending PSU banks amd 10 per cent NPA legacy of UPA, insider trading ponzi frauds like Sahara scam to a vibrant financial system that is supplying equity and credit to worlds fastest growing economy ie India. Even as banks in US fail and stick markets collapse, Indian banks and markets continue to grow (sic)".
Eighteen months after its report on the Adani money siphoning scandal, Hindenburg published a blog post last night saying, "SEBI has shown a surprising lack of interest in Adani's alleged undisclosed web of Mauritius and offshore shell entities." It cited "whistleblower documents", claiming: "Madhabi Buch, the current chairperson Of SEBI, and her husband had stakes in both obscure offshore funds used in the Adani money siphoning scandal."
SEBI chief Madhabi Puri Buch, however, has since denied all the allegations, calling it "baseless" and an attempt of "character assassination".
In a public statement, the Adani Group has also dismissed all the accusations levelled against Buch by Hindenburg Research. "The latest allegations by Hindenburg are malicious, mischievous and manipulative selections of publicly available information to arrive at pre-determined conclusions for personal profiteering with wanton disregard for facts and the law", the business conglomerate said in an official statement.
With PTI inputs
Published 11 August 2024, 10:29 IST