High Level Panel For Public Disclosure Of assets By Sebi Chief, Senior Officials

Sebi Chairman and senior officers should make public disclosure of their assets and liabilities to increase transparency and accountability, a high-level committee has suggested.

The committee chaired by former Chief Vigilance Commissioner Pratyush Sinha has also suggested that all Sebi board members and employees should make initial, annual, event-based and exit disclosures of assets, liabilities, trading activities and family relationships as well as other professional and relational interests.

The disclosure is to be made to the proposed Sebi's Office of Ethics and Compliance (OEC) and the Oversight Committee on Ethics and Compliance (OCEC).

The report, which was submitted to Sebi Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey on November 10, further suggested that applicants for the position of chairman and members and for lateral entry positions must disclose actual, potential, and perceived conflict-of-interest risks of financial and non-financial nature to the appointing authority.

"Chairman, WTMs (whole time members) and SEBI employees at the level of CGM (chief general manager) and above will be required to make a public disclosure of assets and liabilities statement," the panel report said.

Part-time members on the Sebi board may be exempted from this requirement, as they do not handle Sebi's day-to-day regulatory activities, the panel added.

Part-time members on Sebi board are secretaries in the ministries of corporate affairs and finance.

Currently, Sebi board under Chairman Pandey has two WTMs and two part-time members.

In March, the Sebi board had decided to constitute the committee to undertake a comprehensive review of the existing provisions related to conflict of interest and disclosures of property, investments, liabilities, and other related matters by Sebi members and officials.

The move came in the wake of allegations against former Sebi Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch, who was accused of holding back on investigations against the Adani group because of a conflict of interest.

The committee's mandate included reviewing current policies and frameworks governing conflict of interest and identifying any gaps or ambiguities, and suggesting a mechanism for members of the public to raise concerns pertaining to conflict of interest and disclosures, including a process to examine complaints.

The high-level committee comprised Injeti Srinivas as Vice Chairman, Uday Kotak, G Mahalingam, Sarit Jafa, and R Narayanaswamy as members.

Pandey's predecessor Buch, who demitted office at the end of February, had come under attack last year from now-shuttered Hindenburg Research which alleged that she and her husband held "hidden" holdings in Bermuda and Mauritius entities also drawn upon by the older brother of Adani group founder Gautam Adani, which possibly held the agency back from investigating fraud charges against the powerful conglomerate.

Both Buch and the Adani group had denied all allegations.