On Friday, the Congress party raised new conflict of interest charges against SEBI Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch. It said she has been receiving rental income from an entity associated with Wockhardt Limited, an organization under SEBI probe for insider trading and other violations. The party says that this kind of arrangement violates the SEBI Act of 2008 Code of Conduct for Members of the Board of Directors, stating thereby that the regulator should be impartial.
Speaking to the media and publicity department of Congress, Pawan Khera said that Buch had received ₹2.16 crore from Carol Info Services, a subsidiary of Wockhardt Limited, for the period of 2018- 2024 for the commercial building rental. They include her term as a full-time member of SEBI and her term as its chairperson as well. In Khera’s opinion, the fact that Buch has a financial relationship with a company that may be in the crosshairs of the very agency she leads is highly questionable.
Khera said that such an arrangement questions Buch’s neutrality now that he has been put in charge of probing Wockhardt by SEBI. There is no way with which the SEBI chairperson can remain objective in light of their receiving income from a company under SEBI’s scanner, as Congress terms it threatening the regulator’s ethical principle.
Continuing the pressure on her appointment, Khera accused the government, although, in March 2022, Buch was appointed as SEBI chairperson by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, which is under the prime minister’s leadership, she may have furnished financial connections. “Did she receive the clearance for the position under the agreement that she could sustain prior financial relations as long as she was doing the wish of the prime minister?” he wondered.
The Congress party is now seeking Buch’s dismissal from her post immediately and also an investigation of her actions by an independent agency. The brief is that she should no longer lead the agency as this discredits and undermines SEBI, and many are encouraged to take action and bring back the public’s trust in the agency.
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