New Delhi, 13 September (H.S.): Securities & Exchange Board of

India (SEBI) chief Madhabi Puri Buch and her Husband Dhaval have issued a statement,

rejecting all allegations labelled on them since last few weeks.

Issuing point by point rebuttal to

all the specific allegations accompanied by statements issued by companies

named by Congress and other reports, the couple insisted

that “all the allegations made are false, incorrect, malicious and motivated.”

In the statement, they clarified regarding

Agora Advisory, that she has never dealt with any file involving the

consultancy firm, or any of the business groups named in recent allegations,

after joining SEBI.

In keeping with the highest

standards of governance, Madhabi has never dealt with any file involving Agora

Advisory, Agora Partners, the Mahindra Group, Pidilite, Dr Reddy’s, Alvarez and

Marsal, Sembcorp, Visu Leasing or ICICI Bank at any stage after her joining

SEBI. As evident from the above facts and the communications from the

companies, the allegations are completely false, malicious and

defamatory, said the statement issued by Madhabi and Dhaval Buch.

The statement also clarified that

ICICI Bank's payment to Agora were interest payments on deposits.

Ascribing motive to it is unfortunate and defamatory.

Regarding the allegations of

moonlighting while employed with ICICI Bank, the statement said that in 2011, Madhabi

was granted long leave (unpaid) by the ICICI Bank to join her husband who was

working in Singapore at that point of time. During her time in

Singapore, with ICICI Bank's full and prior approval, she took up a position

with a Private Equity Firm in Singapore. When it became clear in 2013 that she

would remain in Singapore, she superannuated from ICICI Bank as per the Bank’s

rules.

Madhabi Buch's statement goes on to

say that her I-T returns were obtained by 'fraudulent means' and were in

violation of Income Tax Act. Our income tax returns clearly have been

obtained by adopting fraudulent means and illegally. This is a clear breach of

not only our right to privacy (which is a fundamental right) but also a

violation of the Income Tax Act, the statement said.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Nimish kumar