FinMin terms Jayalalithaa allegations over P-Notes baseless

NEW DELHI: The allegations made by AIADMK General Secretary Jayalalithaa that investments through participatory notes is largely responsible for the sudden and unexplained fluctuations in the stock market indices are totally baseless, said a Finance Ministry statement.

Jayalalithaa had accused Finance Minister P Chidambaram of having a vested interest in jeopardising India's security and sponsoring economic terrorism in India, who was turning a blind eye towards the inflow of terror funds through participatory notes (PNs).

She also said that 'dirty' money was finding its way into the country through PNs while demanding invoking of provisions of the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act to find out the genuineness of these p-notes.

The statement, approved by Finance Minister P Chidambaram, said, "The allegations made by Ms Jayalalithaa, General Secretary of the AIADMK, are totally baseless besides betraying a complete lack of understanding of the FII regime that is in force."

"The statement of the General Secretary of the AIADMK appears to have been made not after gathering information or a careful study of the subject but purely out of a malicious design to spread misinformation," Chidambaram said.

Pointing out that the Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were allowed to invest through P-notes under the supervision of market regulator SEBI, the Ministry statement said, "FIIs are required to report at the end of every month, in a prescribed format, all information relating to PNs issued by them including the names of subscribers to the said PNs."