Madhabi Puri-Buch, the chairperson of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) — and her husband Dhaval have finally broken their silence on a raft of allegations by US short seller Hindenburg Research and the Congress party in which they have denied the charge that she moonlighted at a private equity firm while working for ICICI Group and have tried to explain away payments that her firm Agora Advisory Pvt Ltd received when she occupied top positions at the market regulator.
But the burden of argument centred on the fact that the so-called whistle blower who had helped her critics fire a fusillade of accusations to shred her reputation had relied on her income tax returns where she had already declared the payments and on which she had paid taxes.
"The allegations themselves are based on our Income Tax Returns. In other words, all these matters are a part of our income tax returns in which all these matters have been fully disclosed and taxes have been duly paid. Shockingly, our income tax returns clearly have been obtained by adopting fraudulent means and illegally. This is a clear breach of not only our right to privacy (which is a fundamental right) but also a violation of the Income Tax Act," the Buchs said in their six-page defence.
The statement comes in the backdrop of the Congress making a series of allegations of impropriety against Puri-Buch, including receiving income from ICICI Bank post-retirement, earning rental income from Wockhardt Associates.
Besides, the political party made accusations against consulting assignments of Dhaval Buch and his companies — Agora Advisory in India and Agora Partners in Singapore.
Terming the allegations completely "false, malicious and defamatory", Buchs said there is a clear pattern emerging to "distort and twist the facts" and hinted at taking appropriate legal actions.
They said the allegations are being made in instalments, only to "keep the pot boiling".
"If the objective had been to arrive at the truth rather than to malign individuals and institutions with distortions of facts, we wonder why all allegations would not be brought out, in public, at one go. We would then have given all the facts at one go."
Responding to the charge of Buch moonlighting while employed with ICICI Bank, the statement said that in 2011, she was granted long leave (unpaid) by ICICI Bank to join her husband who was working in Singapore at that point of time.
It pointed out that during her time there, in Singapore, with ICICI Bank's full and prior approval, she took up a position with a private equity firm in that country. Later when it became clear in 2013 that she would remain in Singapore, she superannuated from ICICI Bank as per the bank’s rules.
Calling the questions raised regarding the consulting assignments of Dhaval Buch and the firms as unfortunate, the statement said Dhaval is an engineer from IIT Delhi with 35 years of experience, including as an executive director on the board of Hindustan Unilever, and has a "strong reputation" as a leading professional.
"There seems to be an assumption that when a spouse of a senior government official is appointed as an advisor, it must be attributed to factors beyond professional merit.
"Such assumptions overlook the strength of qualifications and expertise and reach conclusions that are most unfortunate," the statement noted.
The payments that Puri-Buch got from ICICI Bank while being in Sebi pertained to contributory annuity scheme and exercising of Esops at various stages over 10 years.
"Sebi's guidelines permit board members, including the Chairperson, to hold and transact in Esops."
Calling themselves as upright and honest professionals, the Buchs said they have led their professional lives with transparency.