More Trouble For Sebi Chief Madhabi Puri Buch; Public Accounts Committee Likely To Summon Her

New Delhi: Troubles seem to be far from over for the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) Chief Madhabi Puri Buch. As per latest reports in the Economic Times, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament is set to investigate allegations against her. PAC is likely to summon Buch later this month, the ET added. The newspaper said that the summon can be made as early as later this month.

The PAC, headed by Congress leader K C Venugopal, as part of its investigation may also ask other officials finance and corporate affairs ministry to appear before it. Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) keeps a close eye on government expenditure.

"The matter was added to the PAC's agenda after several members demanded an inquiry into the functioning of Sebi and allegations against Buch at the panel's first meeting on August 29.The agenda item doesn't specify the regulator or name the chief. It's listed as "Performance review of regulatory bodies established by act of parliament," Economic Times wrote.

The opposition Congress has launched fresh tirade against Sebi Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch over receiving regular income from private lender ICICI Bank and arm ICICI Prudential, while being the whole-time member and later Chairperson of the capital markets regulatory body.

Pawan Khera, Chairman, Media and Publicity Department, Congress, in a press conference said, "We asked three questions yesterday (which was directed towards ICICI bank, PN and Buch. Of the three, ICICI bank responded to our allegations, which has infact helped us in un-layering this expose further."

Khera further claimed that ICICI bank paid pensions to Buch which varied in various years and was not steady. He added that Buch availed ESOPs from ICICI even after superannuation from the Group. He questioned as to how retirement benefits or pensions be more than the annual average salary that Buch drew from ICICI.

Khera also raised questions on the TDS being paid by ICICI Bank on ESOPs to Buch.

"Why did ICICI pay the TDS on ESOPs on behalf of Buch? Does the bank follow the same protocol for all its past and present employees? Why didi ICICI not offer this TDS amount as taxable income of Buch? Is this not a clear non-compliance of the Income Tax Act?," questioned Khera.