Madhabi Puri Buch, chairperson of the Securities and Exchange Board of India, and her husband Dhaval Buch earned Rs 2.95 crore from six SEBI-regulated companies after she joined the market regulator in 2017, the Congress alleged on Tuesday.

The Opposition party claimed that this was done through a consulting firm named Agora Advisory Private Limited, in which Buch owns a 99% stake. The company was registered in May 2013.

American short-seller Hindenburg Research had flagged Agora Advisory Private Limited in a report on August 10, in which it accused Buch and her husband of having stakes in offshore entities tied to alleged money laundering and stock price manipulation by the Adani Group.

Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera told reporters on Tuesday that Rs 2.95 crore was paid to Agora Advisory between 2016 and 2024 by Mahindra and Mahindra, ICICI Bank, Dr Reddy’s, Pidilite, Sembcorp and Visu Leasing and Finance.

Buch joined SEBI as a whole-time director in April 2017 and became its chairperson in March 2022.

“After Hindenburg Research’s allegations, Buch said that Agora Advisory ‘became immediately dormant’ after she joined SEBI,” Khera said on Tuesday. “This was a lie and a case of wilful concealment. She and her husband have been earning money from companies that SEBI is tasked with investigating and regulating.”

Of the Rs 2.95 crore, about Rs 2.59 crore was paid to Agora Advisory Private Limited by Mahindra and Mahindra alone, Khera claimed.

“Not only that, between 2019-’21, Dhaval Buch was separately paid Rs 4.78 crore by Mahindra and Mahindra in his personal capacity,” Khera claimed, without disclosing the source of the information. “This was while Madhabi Buch was a whole-time member at SEBI.”

Khera also alleged that there was a possible quid pro quo relationship between the Buchs and Mahindra and Mahindra. “On May 31, 2019, July 21, 2020, March 26, 2018, April 21, 2020 and August 27, 2021, SEBI has passed orders favourable to Mahindra and Mahindra,” he said, without disclosing the contents of the orders.

Khera claimed that these actions were a clear violation of SEBI’s code of conduct for employees, which prevents them from drawing an income from companies that it regulates.

Mahindra and Mahindra denied the allegations as “false and misleading”, reported The Hindu Business Line. The group said in a statement that it had hired Dhaval Buch in 2019 after he retired as Unilever’s global chief procurement officer for his expertise in supply chain management.

“He has spent most of his time at Bristlecone, a subsidiary which is a supply chain consulting company,” the statement read. “Mr Buch is currently on the Board of Bristlecone. He joined Mahindra Group almost three years before Ms Madhabi Puri Buch was appointed as SEBI Chairperson.”

The automobile manufacturer also rejected allegations of a quid pro quo with the Buchs, saying that none of the five SEBI orders referenced by the Congress were “relevant”. Three out of the five do not pertain to the company or its subsidiaries, it said.

“We want to ask the prime minister [Narendra Modi] who appointed Madhabi Buch as the chairperson of SEBI,” Khera said. “Did you know about Buch having 99% shares of Agora Advisory. Did the Intelligence Bureau not do its due diligence and give you a report? Or did you know about Buch’s position being compromised and appoint her regardless, because you thought she would be pliable?”

Scroll has previously reported that Buch owned a 99% ownership stake in Agora Advisory till at least March 2024, and that the company earned Rs 3.63 crore between 2019 and 2024 according to documents filed with the Registrar of Companies.

On Friday, the Congress alleged that Buch received rental income from a company that was under investigation by SEBI for several violations including insider trading.

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