New Delhi: The Congress on Monday levelled fresh conflict of interest allegations against SEBI chairperson Madhabi Buch and asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to come clean as the head of the appointments committee of the cabinet on her appointment.
At a press conference in Delhi, the Congress alleged that since the current Sebi chairperson took office in 2017, she has not only been drawing a salary from Sebi but has also been holding an office of profit at the ICICI Bank, continuing to receive income from them to this very day.
“When you work at one company, you take a salary from there only. However, when the Sebi Chairperson was a whole time member of Sebi, she was receiving regular income from ICICI Bank, prudential, and ESOP from 2017-2024.”
“Someone sitting in such a higher position in a regulatory body was receiving a payment from somewhere else.”
“This is completely a violation of Section 54 of Sebi,” said Congress leader Pawan Khera during the press conference.
Buch was a whole-time member of Sebi from April 5, 2017 to October 4, 2021 before she assumed the role of Sebi Chairperson from March 2022.
In its press release, the Congress alleged that the total amount received by Buch from ICICI from her time of joining Sebi in 2017 up until today totals to `16.8 crore, which is “shockingly 5.09 times the income she received from Sebi during the same period which amounts to Rs.3.3 crore”.
The Congress' fresh allegations come days after Hindenburg Research launched a fresh broadside against market regulator SEBI chairperson Buch, alleging that she and her husband had stakes in obscure offshore funds used in the Adani money siphoning scandal.
