New Delhi: The Congress took another swipe at SEBI chief Madhabi Puri Buch Tuesday, alleging that her retirement benefits from previous employer ICICI Bank “exceeded” her annual earnings as an employee.
The party’s media head Pawan Khera said the Congress has access to information “down to the last penny” regarding these payouts to Buch.
Khera’s comments at a press conference came a day after ICICI Bank, in a statement to the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange, denied his allegations that Buch earned crores from the company as salary while serving as a whole-time director of the SEBI, and later its chairperson.
Khera claimed that Buch drew income, including salary, amounting to Rs 16.80 crore from the bank, while holding official positions in the SEBI between 2017 and 2024.
The bank said the money paid to their former employee was her “retiral benefits”. On Tuesday, Khera sought to punch holes in the bank’s version, saying the “so-called retiral benefits had been non-uniform both in terms of its frequency and amount”.
“Even if we are to assume that the Rs 5.03 crore she (Bunch) received from ICICI in 2014-2015 (soon after her superannuation) was part of her ‘retiral benefits’… she got nothing in 2015-2016… then why did this so called ‘retiral benefit’ resume in 2016-2017 and continue until 2021,” Khera asked.
Buch retired from ICICI Bank in 2013 and joined the capital market regulator as its whole-time director in 2017. In March 2022, she took over as the SEBI chairperson. Khera said her average salary at ICICI Bank from 2007 till her retirement was Rs 1.3 crore per annum.
However, he said, Buch’s retirement benefits from 2016-17 to 2020-21 averaged around Rs 2.7 crore per annum. “How can a person’s retiral benefits be more than her salary as an employee? The ICICI Bank’s statement attempts to provide a response but, in reality, ends up giving more information and confirming our charges,” Khera said.
On Monday, Khera contended that Buch was also paid Rs 2.84 crore by the bank under the Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) and Rs 1.10 crore as TDS (tax deducted at source) on ESOP. This was in addition to her salary, he said.
‘Market price beneficial to Buch’
In its statement, ICICI Bank had countered the Congress saying its “employees, including retired employees, had the choice to exercise their ESOPs anytime up to a period of 10 years from the date of vesting.”
But Khera shot back Tuesday, seeking a clarification from the bank on its policy under which Buch was allowed to exercise her ESOPs eight years after the voluntary termination of her services.
“Also, why was she allowed to exercise ESOPs at a time when the share price of this company increased substantially, thereby benefitting her? And strangely, this benefit that accrued to her coincided with her tenure at SEBI. Wasn’t the market price beneficial to her?” Khera said.Responding to a question from ThePrint on the source of his information, Khera said, “Let her challenge us… we are waiting. If I have facts right to the last penny, then obviously we have access to some information.”
(Edited by Tikli Basu)