SP asks FM to recover Rs 2500 cr excise from Sterlite

New Delhi, Dec 19: Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh today askedFinance Minister P Chidambaram about the steps taken by the governmentto vacate the court stay against Rs 2500 crore excise evasion caseagainst Vedanta/Sterlite Company in which he was a director beforebecoming minister.

Mr Singh said that the Samajwadi Party along with Telugu DesamParty and AIADMK had even raised the matter in Parliament through awritten question seeking to know whether Mr Chidambaram acted as alawyer for Mr Anil Agarwal's company Sterlite which is registeredabroad as Vedanta before he took oath as the minister in the UPAgovernment and was also its Director. He said the answer to both thesequestions were received as positive.

The Samajwadi Party leader wanted to know what steps MrChidambaram had taken to vacate the court stay that the Sterlite hadgot in the Rs 2500 central excise evasion case and recover the amountfrom the company.

''Mr Chidamabaram serves notices, orders raid and recovers theamount in case of individuals like me and you. Why is he not taking anysuch steps to recover the huge amount of Rs 2500 crore from Sterlite,of which he had been a director?'' Mr Singh wondered.

It is significant that the Samajwadi Party got miffed up when theIncome Tax department served notice to Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchanwhen he was hospitalised.

UNI