The Financial Services Commission (FSC) of Mauritius declared on Tuesday, August 13, that it does not allow the establishment of shell firms and that the offshore fund at the center of the conflict of interest accusation made by Hindenburg Research against India’s SEBI chief Madhabi Puri Buch is not domiciled in the island nation.
FSC rejects Hindenburg report
The FSC said in a statement that it had reviewed the information in the Hindenburg Research study, which was released on August 10, 2024, and included “shell entities based in Mauritius” and Mauritius as a “tax haven.”
“The report of Hindenburg has further cited ‘IPE Plus Fund’ is a small offshore Mauritius Fund and ‘IPE Plus Fund 1, a fund registered in Mauritius’. We wish to clarify that IPE Plus Fund and IPE Plus Fund 1 are not licensees of the FSC and are not domiciled in Mauritius,” it said.
“Mauritius has a robust framework for global business companies. All global business companies licensed by the FSC have to meet substance requirements on an ongoing basis as per Section 71 of the Financial Services Act, which is strictly monitored by the FSC,” the FSC said.
According to FSC, Mauritius has been rated as compliant with the norms of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and rigorously adheres to worldwide best practices.
Hindenburg’s allegations against India’s SEBI chief
On Saturday, Hindenburg claimed that India’s SEBI Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband had opened an account with a Singaporean wealth management company in 2015 to invest an undisclosed amount of money in a Bermuda-based company’s Mauritius-registered subsidiary.
Two India’s Adani associates utilized the Mauritian fund, which was managed by an Adani director, as a vehicle to round-trip funds and manipulate stock prices.
The integrated regulator for global business and non-bank financial services, FSC, denied the fund’s Mauritius registration. According to FSC, the establishment of shell corporations is prohibited by Mauritius law.
