Cong alleges conflict of interest in SEBI chief’s appointment, urges PM to clarify

New Delhi: The Congress on Monday levelled fresh conflict of interest allegations against SEBI chairperson Madhabi Buch and asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to come clean as the head of the appointments committee of the cabinet on her appointment.

The Opposition party said the Supreme Court should take cognisance of these fresh revelations and demanded that the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) chairperson should be dismissed immediately. At a press conference, the Congress alleged that since the current SEBI chairperson took office in 2017, she has not only been drawing a salary from SEBI but has also been holding an office of profit at the ICICI Bank, continuing to receive income from them to this very day. There was no immediate response from Buch or the ICICI bank on the allegations.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said since the SEBI chairperson was appointed by the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah-led committee (appointments committee of the cabinet), they cannot absolve themselves, from the new revelations involving charges of corruption. “Narendra Modi ji, 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,” Kharge said in a post on X.

“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,” he said. “We demand that -- Hon’ble Supreme Court should take cognisance of these fresh revelations. SEBI chairperson should be dismissed immediately. There should be a JPC investigation of the Adani Mega Scam,” Kharge said.

Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said serious questions have been raised over the conflict of interest of the SEBI chairperson in the regulatory body’s Supreme Court-mandated investigations into violations of securities laws by the Adani Group.

“These questions seem to have been simply brushed aside by the Government of India. Now comes this fresh revelation of shocking illegality,” Ramesh said in a post on X.