SEBI Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and husband Dhaval Buch have denied the recent accusations against her, saying that she has never handled any file related to Agora Advisory, Agora Partners, the Mahindra Group, Pidilite, Dr. Reddy's, Alvarez and Marsal, Sembcorp, Visu Leasing or ICICI Bank at any stage in her career since she joined the markets regulator. In a personal statement the couple called the allegations "completely false, malicious and defamatory".
"First of all, as per preliminary and grey evidence all the allegations made are false, incorrect, malicious and motivated. The allegations themselves are based on our Income Tax Returns. In other words, all these matters are a part of our Income Tax returns in which all these matters have been fully disclosed and taxes have been duly paid," the couple stated.
"In fact, Income Tax Returns were obtained by fraudulent and illegal means, and it is but obvious that all the materials annexed with the said EOI are forged, fabricated and have no nexus with the facts and are baseless and laced with malice," they claimed.
"This is an absolute breach not only of our right to privacy, a fundamental right, but also a flagrant violation of the Income Tax Act. The facts, transparently reflected in our Income Tax Returns, have been deliberately twisted to create a false narrative, said the statement.".
The statement further says, "The ICICI Bank payments Agora received were interest payments on deposits, and ascribing motive to it is unfortunate and defamatory".
This came even as Congress said the SEBI chief had a 99 percent 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 involving the same group.
The Mahindra Group has dismissed this, terming the accusations made by Congress as "false and misleading in nature". The SEBI Chairperson and her husband had earlier denied allegations of conflict of interest related to Buch in the SEBI probe against the Adani Group. The couple looks confident of the potential to "demolish" these accusations in the future.
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