The Congress on Monday flagged conflict of interest and rules violation in Madhabi Puri Buch’s appointment as Sebi chairperson, targetting in the process the Modi-Shah duopoly as they were the only two members in the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet which cleared her to head the market regulator.

Briefing reporters, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera alleged that Buch drew salary from ICICI Bank between 2017 and 2021 when she was a whole-time member of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). The total salary paid to her by ICICI Bank over the four years amounted to ₹12.63 crore, the Congress said. Buch was made a whole-time member in April 2017 and Sebi chairperson in March 2022.

“This violates Section 54 of the Sebi (Employees’ Service) Regulations, 2001, and Section 5 of Sebi’s Code on Conflict of Interests for Board Members (2008), both of which prohibit whole-time members of Sebi from taking benefit from any other organisation and engaging in activities that entail receiving a salary or fee,” Khera said.

Apart from the salary, Buch received ₹22.41 lakh as income from ICICI Prudential between 2017 and 2024 as a whole-time member and later as Sebi chairperson, the Congress claimed. “Between 2021 and 2023, the current Sebi chairperson was also in receipt of employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) from ICICI Bank amounting to ₹2.84 crore,” he added, underscoring the fact that this violated Section X of the ICICI Employees Stock Option Scheme 2000.

While there was no word from Sebi or Buch, ICICI Bank informed the BSE and NSE that ICICI Bank or its group of companies have not paid any salary or granted any ESOPs to Buch after her retirement, other than her retirement benefits.

“All the payments made to Ms. Buch post her retirement had accrued to her during her employment phase with the ICICI Group. These payments comprise ESOPs and retiral benefits.”

Buch opted for superannuation from ICIC Bank in October 2013.

When asked about the source of his “information”, Khera shot back: “I challenge them to prove this is wrong.”

Party sources said the information was being brought out by whistle-blowers and Khera claimed this is just the beginning. “There is still time for the Sebi chief to come clean and disclose from which other company/bank she or a member of her family are getting benefits,” Khera said.

More importantly, the Congress leader added, there are questions for the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet. “Was the Prime Minister aware of these facts when Buch was being considered for Sebi chairpersonship? Did he ignore them? Or was he not aware of these facts? In which case, what kind of government are you running?”

Likening all this to a game of chess where the pieces are just pawns, Khera asked: “Why was ICICI Bank giving Buch a salary? Why did ICICI bypass employee stock ownership plan rules to give her benefits? Who is protecting the Sebi chairperson? We demand to know from the PM why is the Sebi chairperson being protected?”

Party president Mallikarjun Kharge urged the Supreme Court to take cognisance of the new facts and demanded the dismissal of Buch.

In a post addressed directly to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on X, Kharge wrote: “For 10 years, you have tried your best to crush the autonomy and independence of India’s long-standing institutions to help your crony friends. We saw this in the case of appointments in CBI, ED, RBI, CEC, now we are facing the same in Sebi.

“You have appointed the first lateral entry chairperson of Sebi without any due diligence, this has put a black stain on its reputation and belittled the integrity of the market regulator. After all, Sebi protects the hard-earned money of small- and middle-income investors…. Since the Sebi chairperson was appointed by the Modi-Shah-led committee, they cannot absolve themselves, from the new revelations involving charges of corruption.”