Congress sharpens attack on SEBI chief over ICICI payouts

The Opposition Congress has  intensified its attack on Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch. On Tuesday Congress leaders alleged that her retirement benefits were more than the salary she used to draw when she was working for the ICICI Bank. “How can the retirement benefits be more than the salary she drew when she was with ICICI Bank?” Congress leader Pawan Khera asked at a news conference. He urged the SEBI chief to ‘come out clean, give a clarification and respond to our charges’.

The Congress had earlier alleged that the SEBI chief held an office of profit at the ICICI Bank and received ₹16.8 crore in substantial benefits from the bank and its subsidiaries.

Average annual salary Rs 1.3 crore 

Mr Khera pointed out that her average annual salary at ICICI was ₹1.30 crore. But her average pension and other retirement benefits turned out to be ₹2.77 crore. "How is it possible?” he wondered.

On Tuesday, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh took to X (formerly Twitter) to post a series of questions for the SEBI chief and the ICICI Bank's clarification.

• Why has this so-called "retiral benefit" been non-uniform both in terms of its frequency and amount?

• Even if we were to assume that the Rs. 5.03 crores she received from ICICI in 2014-2015 (soon after her superannuation) were part of her "retiral benefit" and that she got nothing in 2015-2016, why did this so-called "retiral benefit" resume in 2016-2017 and continue until 2021?

• The average salary drawn by Ms. Madhabi P. Buch from 2007 up until 2013-14 (right before her superannuation from ICICI) is Rs. 130 lacs per annum. However, the so-called “retiral benefit” given by ICICI to Ms. Madhabi P. Buch from 2016-17 to 2020-21 averages around Rs. 277 lacs per annum. How can a person's "retiral benefit" be more than her salary as an employee?

Retirement benefits coming after leaving ICICI 8 years ago?

Pawan Khera said: "ICICI says that our employees and retired employees have the choice to exercise their ESOPs. ICICI has written on an American website that if one resigns from ICICI Bank, then ESOPs can be exercised within three months of the resignation. But Madhabi Buch ji is still running ESOPs even after 8 years of resigning. Why does not every ICICI employee get this kind of benefit?"

ICICI Bank says it's ESOP

The questions posed by the Congress come after ICICI Bank clarified that neither it nor its group companies paid any salary or gave employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) to the SEBI chief. Terming the money given to Ms Buch as ‘retiral benefit’, ICICI Bank said, 'Not paid any salary or granted any ESOPs to Madhabi Puri Buch after her retirement, other than her retiral benefits. It may be noted that she had opted for superannuation with effect from October 31, 2013".

Madhabi Buch served as a whole-time member of SEBI from April 5, 2017, to October 4, 2021, before being appointed chairperson of SEBI in March 2022. Her career began in 1989 at ICICI Bank, and she later held the position of CEO at ICICI Securities from February 2009 to May 2011.

Hindenburg-Adani-Buch case

Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband Dhaval Buch came under criticism after the US short-seller firm Hindenburg Research, in its latest salvo released in August, alleged that “SEBI Chairperson has bought stakes in obscure offshore entities used in Adani money siphoning scandal”.

The allegations come a year after Hindenburg Research published a report accusing the Adani Group of financial irregularities, which caused a dramatic decline in the company's stock prices.

The Hindenburg Report alleged, “The current SEBI Chairperson and her husband, Dhaval Buch, had hidden stakes in the exact same obscure offshore Bermuda and Mauritius funds, found in the same complex nested structure, used by Vinod Adani.”

(By arrangement with livemint.com)