Sebi chief denies Congs' allegations, terms them incorrect & motivated

Sebi chief Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband Dhaval Buch on Friday denied allegations of impropriety and conflict of interest levelled by the Congress, saying these are "incorrect, motivated and defamatory".

Sebi chief Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband Dhaval Buch on Friday denied allegations of impropriety and conflict of interest levelled by the Congress, saying these are "incorrect, motivated and defamatory".

In a point-by-point rebuttal of the accusations against them, Buchs said there is a clear pattern emerging to "distort and twist the facts" and hinted at taking appropriate legal actions.

In a joint statement, they said the allegations rely on illegally-obtained tax information, violating privacy laws and 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," Buchs said in a statement.

The statement comes in the backdrop of the Congress making a series of allegations of impropriety against Madhabi 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.

Dhaval Buch was accused of earning Rs 4.78 crore from Mahindra Group at a time when the regulator was investigating it for market infractions.