Continuing his tirade against the GSTN, the company formed by the UPA government to create the IT backbone for the Goods and Services Tax regime, the BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy on Thursday demanded action against former Finance Minister P Chidambaram as no security clearance was sought for the firm.

In a tweet, Swamy said the Finance Ministry had admitted in an RTI reply that necessary security clearance had not been obtained when setting up the GST Network (GSTN), which will deal with sensitive information. “MoF by RTI concedes that the necessary security clearance for GSTN was never taken! PC be prosecuted for this,” he said.

The GST Network (GSTN) is the special purpose vehicle formed under the previous UPA regime to set up the information technology framework for rolling out the indirect tax regime.

Last month, Swamy had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi raising strong objection to majority stake in GSTN being held by private entities. Stating that the present equity structure of GSTN is “anti-national”, he had urged the Prime Minister to ensure it is replaced by a government-owned structure.

The Centre holds 24.5 per cent stake in GSTN while state governments together hold another 24.5 per cent.

The balance 51 per cent equity is with non—government financial institutions, like HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and LIC Housing Finance.

Alleging that GSTN has “appropriated” around ₹4,000 crore in expenses and fees for its preliminary exercises, Swamy had asked why “private profit-making entities have any stake, and that too majority stake” in a Section 25 company, which is a not-for-profit organisation.

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