TMC MP Mahua Moitra lodges complaint with Lokpal against SEBI chief

Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra on Friday, 13 September, lodged a complaint with the Lokpal against SEBI chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch alleging "quid pro quo arrangements which potentially threatens national interests".

"My Lokpal complaint against Ms. Puri-Buch been filed electronically & in physical form. Lokpal must within 30 days refer it to CBI/ED for a preliminary investigation and then a full FIR enquiry. Every single entity involved needs to be summoned & every link investigated," she posted on X.

In a three-page letter, Moitra said as the issue concerns national interests and the interest of the crores of investors, the matter needs to be investigated.

US short-seller Hindenburg Research in August alleged that it suspects SEBI's unwillingness to act against the Adani Group may be because of its head Madhabi Puri Buch had stakes in offshore funds linked to the conglomerate - an allegation slammed by the SEBI head as "baseless" while Adani Group said it never had any commercial relations with Buch.

Hindenburg alleged that Buch and her husband had undisclosed investments in obscure offshore funds in Bermuda and Mauritius, the same entities allegedly used by Vinod Adani, the elder brother of group chairman Gautam Adani, to round-trip funds and inflate stock prices.

The TMC had earlier demanded that the SEBI chairperson should be suspended.