SEBI chief’s husband Dhawal has come into the limelight following the Butch Hindenburg report.
The ghost of Hindenburg has come out again. Now Hindenburg has targeted the SEBI chief and her husband. Hindenburg has alleged that the SEBI chief and her husband are involved in the alleged Adani scam. Hindenburg quoted the whistleblower as saying that if SEBI had investigated Adani’s offshore companies, the Buchs could have been involved. The special thing is that this time along with SEBI chief Madhabi Puri Buch, her husband’s name has also come to light. Everyone knows Madhabi Puri Butch. But who is Dhaval Butch, the husband of the SEBI chief, who first came to fame? Let us tell you about them as well. Before that, let us try to understand the allegations that Hindenburg has made.
The Buch couple from Hindenburg accused
- Hindenburg said in a report published late on Saturday that Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) chief Buch and her husband Dhaval Buch held stakes in the foreign funds that were used for alleged embezzlement at the Adani Group.
- According to Hindenburg, Butch and her husband had made undeclared investments in shady offshore funds in Bermuda and Mauritius. He said these were the same funds that Vinod Adani allegedly used to embezzle funds and boost the share prices of the group’s companies. Vinod Adani is the elder brother of Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani.
- According to Hindenburg, these entities were allegedly involved in the network used by Vinod Adani to launder money, raising questions about SEBI’s impartiality due to a potential conflict of interest.
- According to Hindenburg, these investments were made in 2015. These investments were made well before the appointment of Madhavi Puri Buch as a permanent member of SEBI in 2017 and its Chairman in March 2022.
- According to the report, Bermuda-based Global Opportunities Fund was also among those who invested in this fund. The Global Opportunities Fund was allegedly used by units associated with Adani Group to trade shares of group companies.
- According to the report, documents obtained from a whistleblower reveal that Dhaval Buch had written an email to the Mauritius-based fund manager Trident Trust on March 22, 2017, a few weeks before Buch was appointed as the SEBI chairman. This email was about his and his wife’s investment in the Global Dynamic Opportunities Fund (GDOF).
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Who is Dhawal Butch?
Dhaval Buch is currently a senior advisor at Blackstone and Alvarez & Marsal, and also serves as a non-executive director on the board of Gildan. He is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT-Delhi), where he graduated in Mechanical Engineering in 1984. Previously, he served as CEO of Unilever and became its Chief Procurement Officer. His LinkedIn profile describes him as someone who has “deep experience in all aspects of procurement and supply chain.”
What did the Hindenburg Inquiry Report state?
According to whistleblower documents cited by Hindenburg, Dhawal Buch has a net worth of $10 million. The documents show that Vinod Adani was at Unilever when the alleged investments in his companies were made. Further, the Hindenburg report mentions that during Dhaval Buch’s tenure as a senior advisor at Blackstone, the company sponsored Mindspace and Nexus Select Trust, which was India’s second and last to receive SEBI approval for an initial public offering (IPO). The fourth was Real Estate Investment Trust.
He called the accusation unfounded.
The SEBI chief and her husband issued a joint statement rejecting Hindenburg’s allegations and terming them as completely baseless. She said that the allegations made in the report are completely baseless and baseless. There is no truth in this. Our life and financial situation is like an open book. Over the years, all necessary disclosures have already been provided to SEBI. We do not hesitate to disclose any financial documents. Buch said that it is unfortunate that in response to Hindenburg Research, against which SEBI took coercive action and issued a show-cause notice, an attempt has been made to corner and defame us. She also said that keeping in mind complete transparency, a detailed statement will be issued in due course.
