‘False and malicious’: SEBI chief Madhabi Puri Butch and her husband denied the allegations, saying a wrong story was fabricated

New Delhi| SEBI chief Madhabi Puri Butch and her husband Dhawal Butch issued a joint statement in their personal capacity on the recent incidents. The couple on Friday refuted allegations of irregularities and conflict of interest made by the Congress, saying they were “wrong, motivated and defamatory”.

“Madhabi has never decided on any file related to Agora Advisory, Agora Partners, Mahindra Group, Pidilite, Dr Reddy’s, Alvarez & Marsal, Sembcorp, Visu Leasing or ICICI Bank after joining SEBI”, the statement said. As is clear from the above facts and companies’ communications, the allegations are completely false, malicious and damaging to honour… All allegations made are false, false, malicious and politically motivated,

“These allegations themselves are based on our income tax returns”, the butch couple said. In other words, all these cases are part of our income tax return in which all these cases have been fully disclosed and taxes have been duly paid. What’s shocking is that our income tax returns have apparently been obtained by adopting fraudulent means and illegally” “The false story has been deliberately distorted by the facts clearly shown in our income tax returns”, the statement said.

Congress has recently made several allegations against the SEBI chief and her husband, alleging conflict of interest involving a consultancy firm related to them. Congress had alleged that Dhawal Butch earned Rs 4.78 crore from Mahindra Group at a time when the regulator was investigating him for market violations.

Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra has filed a complaint before the Lokpal against SEBI chief Madhabi Puri Buch. He said that the Lokpal should send it to ED or CBI for preliminary investigation, after which there should be a complete FIR investigation. Moitra shared a screenshot of both the online complaint and the physical copy. Mahua also tagged Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh and Pawan Kheda in the post.