‘Congress & allies conspired to create economic anarchy’: BJP on Hindenburg report

NEW DELHI: BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad slammed the opposition’s attack on the US-based short seller Hindenburg report and its allegations against market regulator SEBI chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and said that the Congress party and its allies have conspired together to usher in economic anarchy and instability in India.

“After being rebuffed by the people of India, the Congress party, its allies and the toolkit gang have conspired together to usher in economic anarchy and instability in India. Hindenburg report is released on Saturday, there is uproar on Sunday so the capital market is destabilised on Monday. India is a safe, stable and promising market in the shares as well. It is SEBI’s legal responsibility to ensure that the market runs smoothly”, the BJP leader said while addressing a press conference in the national capital.

“When SEBI issued a notice against Hindenburg, after completing its entire inquiry in July, which was done under the supervision of the Supreme Court, then without giving any answer in favour of its defence, they have made this attack, a baseless attack”, he said.

Hitting out at the opposition, the BJP leader said that they are continuously trying to destroy the image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “We thought that the opposition would maintain peace but they are not. They are continuously trying to destroy PM Modi’s image. The Congress party and their ally party are doing this. Now on Hidenburg’s report, they are spreading falsehood in society”, he said.

Earlier, LoP Rahul Gandhi, alleged on Sunday that there was a significant risk in the Indian stock market after the “integrity” of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) was “gravely compromised” by the allegations against its chairperson.

The Congress leader also asked, “If investors lose their hard-earned money, who will be held accountable — PM Modi, the SEBI chairperson, or Gautam Adani?”

This comes after Hindenburg alleged that market regulator SEBI chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband Dhaval Buch had stakes in obscure offshore funds used in the alleged Adani money siphoning scandal.

Meanwhile, SEBI chairperson Madhabi Buch and her husband, through a press release, rejected the allegations of Hindenburg as baseless and malicious and said this was done for their “character assassination”.

On August 10, Hindenburg published a report alleging, “We had previously noted Adani’s total confidence in continuing to operate without the risk of serious regulatory intervention, suggesting that this may be explained through Adani’s relationship with SEBI Chairperson, Madhabi Buch”.

“What we hadn’t realized: the current SEBI chairperson and her husband, Dhaval Buch, had hidden stakes in the exact same obscure offshore Bermuda and Mauritius funds, found in the same complex nested structure, used by Vinod Adani,” the report by the US hedge firm alleged.

In January 2023, Hindenburg published a report accusing the Adani Group of financial irregularities, leading to a significant drop in the group’s stock prices. Adani had rubbished these claims as baseless. The Supreme Court has given a clean chit to the Adani group.

In January 2024, the apex court refused to transfer the probe into the allegations made by Hindenburg of stock price manipulation by the Adani group to an SIT and directed market regulator SEBI to complete its probe into two pending cases within three months.

In June this year, the Supreme Court also dismissed a plea seeking to review its earlier verdict in the Adani-Hindenburg case. (ANI)