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GTB crash: No JPC probe

December 01, 2004 16:47 IST

The government on Wednesday rejected in the Lok Sabha the demand for setting up of a joint parliamentary committee into the collapse of Global Trust Bank saying a criminal case is being filed before the end of December and no one involved would be spared.

"Any director, manager or employee (who is responsible) will be punished, there is no amnesty. The investigation is complete. A criminal case will be filed before the month is over," Finance Minister P Chidambaram said responding to a calling attention motion on the situation arising out of the collapse of the bank.

The Global Trust Bank Crisis

Rejecting the demand for setting up JPC to go into the matter, the finance minister said such a demand would have been justified if the government had sat idle and had taken no action.

Ajoi Chakravarty, Gurudas Dasgupta, C K Chandrappan (all CPI) and Basudeb Acharia (CPI-M), raising clarifications, wanted to know whether any action was being taken against promoter-director of GTB, Ramesh Gelli, and demanded a JPC to go into the collapse to find out the truth.

"Nobody is soft against anybody. I will be the last to be soft against anyone who has done a criminal act," Chidambaram said adding Gelli had been shown "forbearance or indulgence under a certain dispensation".

In a veiled attack on the previous National Democratic Alliance government, Chidamabaram made it clear that whatever had happened in the case was before May 24 (when he took over as the finance minister).