New Delhi, August 21
In a fresh attempt to corner the Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha on the UTI muddle, the Congress today said the minister should tell the country whether he was told in advance by the Unit Trust of India about the decision to suspend the sale and repurchase of US-64 units.
The main opposition party also accused the Finance Minister of repeatedly advising investment by the UTI in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
“In the light of revelations made by former UTI Chairman P.S. Subramaniyam in his bail petition, the Finance Minister owes a point by point explanation,” Congress Spokesman S. Jaipal Reddy told mediapersons here.
Quoting the bail petition of Subramaniyam, in which the former UTI Chairman had referred to his meeting with the Finance Minister before the UTI Trustees meeting on July 2, 2001, Mr Reddy said Mr Sinha should “come clean on the averments about their interaction” before the decision to suspend the sale and repurchase of units was taken.
Stating that the Finance Minister tried to give the impression that he did not know about what was happening to the US-64 scheme, Mr Reddy said “contrary to the denials made by Mr Sinha, the bail application of Mr Subramaniyam stated that the petitioner had apprised the government on June 30 of the said situation. A proposal was also made by him to the Secretary, Finance, through a letter to further apprise the government of the said situation.”
The Congress had been aware for some time of the contents of Mr Subramaniyam’s bail application but it had no certified copy of the same with it, he said.
The petitioner, according to Mr Reddy, had met the Finance Minister on July 2, 2001, when Mr Sinha had advised Mr Subramaniyam to go ahead with a meeting of the Board of Trustees of UTI on the same day in Delhi for either announcing US-64 at base price or suspending sale and repurchase of units.
The Board of Trustees took a unanimous decision to temporarily suspend the sale and repurchase of the US-64 units for a period of six months on July 2, he said.
Accusing the Finance Minister of not having taken the country into confidence about his interaction with Mr Subramaniyam, the Congress spokesman said “Mr Sinha made every possible effort to feign ignorance of the same.”
Mr Reddy said according to the bail petition of Mr Subramaniyam, the Finance Minister had repeatedly advised investment by the UTI in the Cyberspace Company in Uttar Pradesh and time and again made inquiries as to why measures were not taken to make investments in backward states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
The UP Government, which was a full-fledged partner in the Cyberspace Company, could have looked into the credentials of the company before joining hands with it, he said, adding that the CBI had not looked into this aspect.
Meanwhile, Mr Sinha was at the receiving end in the Rajya Sabha
today as Congress member Kapil Sibal sought to move a privilege motion against him for misleading the House on the Unit Trust of India (UTI) issue when he claimed that P.S. Subramaniyam, former Chairman of the mutual fund organisation, had kept him in dark on the investments.Raising the issue, Mr Sibal said the Finance Minister had misled the House in his reply on August 1 where he said that his ministry would have guided the UTI had it approached the government. However, the ministry was kept in the dark.
Even as members from the Treasury Benches objected to Mr Sibal raising the issue, the Congress member read a report from a business daily where Mr Subramaniyam’s assertions in his bail application that he was in constant touch with Mr Sinha and the Finance Ministry have been quoted. Mr Sibal pointed out that this was contrary to what Mr Sinha had said in the House.
The ruling party members were up on their feet and agitated that Mr Sibal was raising an issue which was pending before the court. However, Mr Sibal kept reading parts of the report.
Chairman Krishan Kant, said he had taken up Mr Sibal’s notice for consideration and it would be sent to the Privileges Committee for its views.
