New Delhi, September 17
The Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC), probing the stock scam, today decided to summon Finance Minister Jaswant Singh, External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha and two former Finance Ministers P. Chidambaram and Manmohan Singh to depose before it as witnesses.
The dates for their deposition would be finalised at mutual convenience, Acting JPC Chairman Vijayendra Pal Singh Badnore told reporters.
Separate questionaires have been prepared for the four and these would be given to them for their replies.
They could give written replies, but would have to appear before the JPC for supplementaries by committee members, Mr Badnore said.
Mr Jaswant Singh was being summoned as he was Finance Minister in the 13-day BJP-led government in 1998. Further, he was External Affairs Minister for more than two years and the JPC wanted to question him on the investments through the Mauritius route involving alleged evasion of taxes.
Mr Chidambaram and Mr Singh were summoned as the policies of the Unit Trust of India (UTI) have been in existence since their time. The questions to them would mainly relate to UTI and its Unit Scheme 64 (US-64), but the members were free to raise questions relating to the stock scam as well, Mr Badnore said.
The deposition of the four were likely to take place in the third week of October, Mr Badnore said.
UNI
