MUMBAI: Subhash Chandra is on the war path. The founder  & chairman emeritus of Zee Entertainment Enterprises, held a press conference late last evening wherein he openly lambasted the Securities & Exchange Board of India  (Sebi) chairperson Madhabhi Puri Buch.

Chandra is being probed by the market regulator for alleged fund diversion of over Rs 2,000 crore from the media behemoth.

The 73-year old Chandra alleged that Buch is one of the negative forces who has been acting against his group all along and it is her interference in the regulatory clearance of Zee’s merger with Sony that caused it to fail.

Said he: “Sebi has not been acting in the interest of investors of Zee Entertainment. Zee Sony merger was progressing well and they had got Sebi/ stock exchange approval. Despite the same, Sebi instructed BSE/NSE to intervene in NCLT proceedings and scuttle the merger by spooking Sony. Ultimately the merger was terminated by Sony which resulted in erosion of huge wealth of minority shareholders.”

He further leveled charges of corruption against Buch, saying that her income, along with her husband was Rs 1 crore, which shot up to Rs 40-50 crore per annum after she assumed her position at Sebi.

”This  needs to be investigated by media and investigating agencies, including analysis of the settled/compounded cases and the consultation fees paid by such corporates and received by Sebi chairperson and her connected persons. These are many ways she and her husband extort money from corporates and stock market corrupt operators and fund managers,” he alleged.

He added that he had been approached by a middleman – Manjit Singh – in January 2024 who professed to represent Buch and offered to rid Zee of its regulatory problems with Sebi in exchange for a price which would run into three digits.  

“I dismissed it then but now with the Hindenburg and ICICI bank revelations against Madhabi Puri Buch and her connected persons, it seems that the person who approached me may have been right. May be this was the modus operandi in various cases, which have got settled/adjudicated through compounding with light touch,” highlighted Chandra. “It was (ICICI’s) Chanda Kochhar and her husband; and Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband; working in tandem, hence Madhabi Puri Buch was paid hefty sums of money by ICICI while she was the whole-time member at Sebi.”

The goateed entrepreneur said he had lost faith in the securities watchdog and would not cooperate with it in his personal capacity. “I urge Zee Entertainment to also stop co-operating with Sebi any further; since it is a biased investigation being carried out; with a pre-conceived mindset of its chairperson,” he said in conclusion.

Meanwhile,  the ICICI group has refuted the allegations made by the Congress (I) that Buch continued to receive a salary from the bank after her retirement. 

It said in a statement on X: “ICICI Bank or its group companies have 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 31 October  2013. During her employment with the ICICI group, she received compensation in the form of salary, retiral benefits, bonus and ESOPs, in line with applicable policies...All the payments made to Ms. Buch post her retirement had accrued to her during her employment phase with the ICICI Group. These payments comprise ESOPs and retiral benefits.”

A senior Sebi official termed the allegations  against Buch as “malicious and opportunistic” to business daily, Business Standard.