Congress accuses SEBI chief Madhabi Buch of investing in Chinese funds: Report

Congress Party accused Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch of not only trading in listed securities at a sum of ₹36.9 crore while at SEBI but also investing in Chinese funds, reported the news portal CNBC TV-18, quoting the Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera on Saturday, September 14.
The move from the opposition party comes as the latest development amongst the earlier claims against SEBI Chief Buch, accusing her of impropriety, as per the report.
The spokesperson, while addressing a press conference, talked about the transactions taking place between 2017 and 2023, when Buch was a Whole-time Member of SEBI and then its Chairperson, said the report.
“These transactions are a violation of Section 6 of SEBI Code on Conflict of Interest for Members of Board (2008),” said Khera. “We want to know when and which govt agency Buch informed about these assets. We want to know when was the first time Buch declared these foreign assets, and which govt agency she informed, and when,” he said, according to the report.
Khera named Global X MSCI China Consumer (CHIQ) and Invesco China Technology ETF (CQQQ) two funds out of the four in which Buch was allegedly invested in, as per the report. 
This move from Congress came one day after SEBI Chief Buch and her husband, Dhaval Buch, issued a detailed statement that addressed the list of allegations put against them. The allegations range from consulting assignments taken on by Buch’s husband after his retirement while Madhabi Puri Buch was at SEBI to their firm Agora Advisory, in which she allegedly owns a 99 per cent stake, receiving payments from listed companies including Mahindra Group, Pidilite, and Dr Reddy’s Labs, according to the report.
The allegations also said that she and her husband received rental income from a company related to Wockhardt, and raised questions about the receipt of payments from ICICI Banks years after she left, as per the report.
Buch and her husband, in a joint statement, termed the allegations as “false, incorrect, malicious and motivated.” She also accused the opposition party of practice of levelling false allegations in installments, saying it was an attempt “only to keep the pot boiling,” according to the news portal.
“We are questioning why you were lying when you said Agora was a dormant company when it wasn’t. It was getting consultancy… The other lie was Madhabi Buch saying that she didn’t know that she was renting her property to someone related to Wockhardt,” he claimed, as per the report.
Congress asked three questions to Buch and the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) government, according to a platform X post by Jairam Ramesh, general secretary in-charge of communications for Congress. 
The questions ranged from asking about whether or not the Prime Minister (PM) is aware of SEBI Chief “trading in listed securities while in possession of Unpublished Price Sensitive Information,” to asking about PM’s awareness of Buch’s investment outside India and its date and disclosures. They also asked about Buch’s investment in Chinese companies amid geopolitical issues, as per the post. 
The Congress party rejected the explanations given by Buch, ICICI Bank, Mahindra Group, Pidilite etc issued to counter Congress’ earlier allegations as being insufficient. They have maintained their stance about the payments made by these firms to Buch or entities linked to her as violations of SEBI’s Code on Conflict of Interest for Members of Board (2008), according to the news portal.