The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Tuesday demanded the setting up of a Joint Parliamentary Committee to probe the "entire gamut" of sale of public sector units like Modern Food, Balco, Paradeep Phosphate, ITDC and HCI hotels, VSNL and Jessop.
They also demanded an enquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation or the Central Vigilance Commission into the sale of Juhu Centaur Hotel as well as Airport Centaur Hotel, alleging serious irregularities in the process.
Addressing a press conference, party leaders said while the JPC should go into the strategic sale of all the PSUs so far, the CBI or CVC should enquire into the "under-priced" sale of the two Centaur Hotels in Mumbai.
Meanwhile, in a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Rajya Sabha MP Dipankar Mukherjee said the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport and Tourism had "observed a number of irregularities in the above sale (of two Centaur Hotels) and recommended CVC enquiry. The NDA government did not accept the recommendation and refused to get the case enquired."
He said there have been further "disturbing reports" on the "under-priced sale of Centaur Hotel, Juhu, Mumbai which reportedly is also in the process of being resold at a premium of Rs 30 crore (Rs 300 million) within six months of its sale."
Mukherjee urged the prime minister to get the sale of the two hotels probed by the CBI or the CVC.
Describing the sale as a "fraudulent" transaction, Mukherjee and other leaders Jasudeb Acharia, Rupchand Pal and Nilotpal Basu also alleged that Tulip Hospitality, which bought the Juhu Centaur, was now planning to resell it to "a French company, Accor Hospitality Limited, at Rs 350 crore (Rs 3,500 million) which could cause the government a loss of Rs 20 crore (Rs 200 million)."
They further alleged that the owner of Tulip, Ajit Kerkar, was a former member of board of Air-India, which owned the Centaur Hotels as they were part of the airline's wholly-owned subsidiary, Hotel Corporation of India. "So, in this case, the seller and the buyer is the same person," Acharia said.
He also alleged that the then divestment minister had not only continuously extended the last date of submission of the entire sale amount to the government, but had also convened a meeting of nationalised banks, LIC and other financial institutions, to help Kerkar's company mobilise finances.
Acharia and Basu said out of a total of Rs 153 crore (Rs 1,530 million), these public sector banks and insurance companies raised Rs 129 crore (Rs 1,290 million) to help Tulip buy Juhu Centaur.
"Why did the divestment minister show so much interest in this particular case? Why was the last date for making the payment continuously extended? How can the seller be a buyer, all these questions require answers," the CPI(M) leaders said.
