The Lokpal on Wednesday disposed of complaints of alleged financial irregularities against former Securities and Exchange Board of India chief Madhabi Puri Buch based on a report by American short-seller Hindenburg Research, PTI reported.

The anti-corruption ombudsman concluded that the allegations in the complaints were based on “presumptions and assumptions and not supported by any verifiable material”.

The Lokpal added that the complaints, including the one by Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Mitra, filed last year were based on the report “by a known short seller trader whose focus was to expose or corner Adani Group of Companies”, the news agency reported.

The allegations will not “attract the ingredients of the offences…so as to direct an investigation”, the order by a six-member bench headed by Lokpal Chairperson Justice AM Khanwilkar was quoted as saying.

Madhabi Buch had assumed charge as the chairperson of the Securities and Exchange Board of India in March 2022. Her tenure ended on February 28.

The allegations

On August 10, Hindenburg Research alleged that the SEBI chief and her husband Dhaval Buch had “hidden stakes” in offshore entities tied to stock price manipulation and money laundering by the Adani Group. Madhabi Buch and Dhaval Buch denied the allegations.

This came 18 months after the United States-based firm accused the Adani Group of engaging in accounting fraud and money laundering using offshore tax havens. The market regulator, led by Madhabi Buch, had “drawn a blank” in its investigation of these allegations in 2023 and told a Supreme Court-appointed panel that further enquiry could be a “journey without a destination.”

Hindenburg Research said it suspected that SEBI’s unwillingness to take meaningful action against suspect offshore shareholders in the Adani Group may have stemmed from the SEBI chief’s “complicity in using the exact same funds used by Vinod Adani, brother of [Adani Group chairperson] Gautam Adani”.

Moitra, in her complaint, referred to these allegations and claimed that Madhabi Buch was a “serial offender” and had engaged in actions that constituted impropriety on the part of a public servant.

The Trinamool Congress MP had also referred to statutory documents that contradicted the SEBI chairperson’s claim that two firms she set up became dormant when she began working with the market regulator in 2017. Hindenburg Research had flagged the two firms – Singaporean consulting firm Agora Partners and Indian consulting business, Agora Advisory – as possible areas of conflict of interest.

On August 13, Scroll reported that Agora Advisory was active between 2019 and 2024 and had made Rs 3.6 crore in revenue from its operations, contradicting Madhabi Buch’s claim that both firms became “immediately dormant on her appointment with SEBI”.

Madhabi Buch and Dhaval Buch described Hindenburg’s allegations as baseless, and claimed that the American short-seller chose “to attempt character assassination” in response to the SEBI’s show cause notice to it.