NEW DELHII: The Janata Dal leader George Fernandes charged that four central ministers had a hand in the multi crore securities scam and demanded an enquiry to trace the roots of its conspiracy to “politician’s bureaucrats and top bank managers.”

Demanding the resignation of the Finance Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and dismissal of the RBI Governor S. Venkitaramahan for their “total dereliction of duty” that led to the scam he said an attempt was being made to make Harshad Mehta the “centerpiece” of the conspiracy and hush up the involvement of others.

“The principal conspirators are the bankers who are getting away with everything as if nothing has happened. Only some action has been taken against officials of three banks so far” he said at a press conference here.

Declining to reveal the names of ministers allegedly involved in the scam immediately the Janata Dal MP said he would do so with documents later of the four ministers three were of Cabinet rank he said in reply to questions.

He said he would seek an appointment with the Prime Minister to discuss the involvement of the ministers and various issues connected with the scam. Smugglers and politician’s money had also been used in the scandal he added.

He said the opposition would consider tabling a no-confidence motion against the government during the monsoon session of Parliament next month for its alleged attempts to “hush up” the multi-crore rupee security scam

The former union minister said he would take up in the party forum the need for floor-coordination with the other opposition parties including the Bharatiya Janata Party to “nail” the government on the issue. :

The Dal leader said the SEBI had warned the economic affairs wing” of the Finance Ministry about the speculator driven spurt in the stock market way back in August 1991 and urged it to take steps to control the situation

He said the stock exchanges der the security contract Regulation Act of 1956 submit a statement of their transactions to the economic affairs wing every month The ministry is also empowered under the Act to order investigations into deals which were against the interests of the public and the investors.

Fernandes also demanded a thorough probe into the dealings of the Bank of Madurai and the Catholic Syrian Bank and alleged that letters of credit worth several crores of Rupees had been opened in these banks in recent months on commodities

He also demanded that stock brokers against whom charges were pending be expelled from the membership of the stock exchange and the governing body of the Bombay stock exchange be superseded. The governing body he alleged was party to the illegal insider trading and manipulations the took place in the exchange.

Accusing the Can Bank Mutual Funds of committing “forgery” the Dal leader said the institution had suppressed the fact that it had lost a sum of Rs 130 crore in the Scam while advertising its Statement of accounts.

BAHRAIN (PTI)-Two men Suspected to have raped three Indian women a40-year-old mother and her two teenaged daughters in the United Arab Emirates on May 29 last have been arrested newspaper reported here June 8. Without disclosing the identity of the suspects the papers quoting a senior police official said they were taken into custody June

Article extracted from this publication >> June 19, 1992