The government on Tuesday gave a clean chit to former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha in the multi-crore stock markets scam of 2001 saying the Joint Parliamentary Committee had not found him guilty, prompting Congress, RJD and Left parties to stage a walk out in the Lok Sabha.
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"JPC has not found my esteemed colleague Yashwant Sinha guilty in the scam," Finance Minister Jaswant Singh told the House replying to a debate on the Action Taken Report on the recommendations of the JPC, headed by Sriprakash Mani Tripathi of Bharatiya Janata Party.
Stating that government was fully committed to implement the recommendations of JPC in the interest of the market and the investors, Singh said the issue of guilt or innocence was a process of investigation and for courts to decide.
"No guilty person will be spared," he asserted amid Opposition's demand to know as to who had been held responsible for the scam and punished.
Unsatisfied by Singh's response, Mani Shankar Aiyer of Congress charged the government and the then finance minister (Sinha) in particular of shirking the responsibility and led the walk-out.
Amid constant interruptions during Jaswant Singh's reply, Tripathi asserted that a proper reply had been given on the issues raised by members.
"You cannot take the House for a ransom," he told Aiyer and his party colleague P R Dasmunsi who were repeatedly asking the Finance Minister to take the responsibility and wanted to know whether Sinha was guilty or not.