"Congress and Hindenburg conspired together": BJP's Ravi Shankar Prasad on Hindenburg report

New Delhi [India], August 12 : Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Ravi Shankar Prasad criticized the opposition's response to the US-based short seller Hindenburg's report and its allegations against SEBI Chairperson Madhabi Buch. He accused the Congress party and its allies of conspiring to create economic instability and anarchy in India.
"In their zeal to oppose PM Narendra Modi, Congress is acting against the nation. The Hindenburg report was released, and the Supreme Court investigated it. SEBI issued a notice to Hindenburg. Why can't they accept that Congress and Hindenburg are working together? The report surfaced before the election, and now it has reappeared after they lost. George Soros is anti-Indian and does not believe in Indian democracy. Congress is defending Hindenburg, a front for anti-India forces. We will expose Congress. The Congress party aims to destabilize our financial system, which is extremely wrong," said Ravi Shankar Prasad.
Earlier, shortly after US-based short seller Hindenburg Research alleged on August 10 that SEBI Chairperson Madhabi Buch and her husband had stakes in "both the obscure offshore entities used in the Adani money siphoning scandal," Buch and her husband issued a joint statement denying the allegations.
In their statement, they accused Hindenburg Research, against whom SEBI has taken enforcement action, of character assassination.
"Our life and finances are an open book. All required disclosures have already been provided to SEBI over the years. We have no hesitation in disclosing any and all financial documents, including those from the period when we were private citizens, to any authority that requests them. It is unfortunate that Hindenburg Research, against whom SEBI has issued a show-cause notice and taken enforcement action, has chosen to engage in character assassination in response," the statement read.
On Saturday, Hindenburg Research alleged, "We had previously noted Adani's total confidence in continuing to operate without the risk of serious regulatory intervention, possibly due to Adani's relationship with SEBI Chairperson Madhabi Buch."
"What we hadn't realized was that the current SEBI Chairperson and her husband, Dhaval Buch, had hidden stakes in the same obscure offshore Bermuda and Mauritius funds found in the complex nested structure used by Vinod Adani," the report by the US hedge firm stated.
Hindenburg Research claimed the new allegations were based on documents provided by a whistleblower and investigations by other entities.
In January 2023, Hindenburg published a report accusing the Adani Group of financial irregularities, leading to a significant drop in the company's stock price. The group at the time denied these claims.
The Hindenburg report alleged stock manipulation and fraud by the conglomerate, accusing Adani of inflating its share prices. Following these allegations, there was a sharp decline in the stocks of various Adani group companies.
In January 2024, the Supreme Court refused to transfer the probe into the allegations of stock price manipulation by the Adani group to a Special Investigation Team (SIT) and directed market regulator SEBI to complete its investigation into two pending cases within three months.
Earlier this year, the Supreme Court also dismissed a plea seeking to review the verdict that had called for an investigation by SEBI into the Adani-Hindenburg case.