Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) founder Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday came down heavily on newly appointed Law Minister Kapil Sibal, claiming he started engaging in “corruption” within a day of taking charge by overturning his predecessor Ashwani Kumar’s decision on Vodafone’s tax liability of `11,217 crore.
Ashwani had rejected Finance Minister P Chidambaram’s proposal for conciliation with Vodafone, saying it was illegal. Attorney General G E Vahanvati too had advised against a compromise and had said Vodafone must pay its dues, said Kejriwal.
Taking a dig at Sibal, Kejriwal said, “If tax matters ... can be decided by ‘discussion’, then why are lakhs of service-class paying taxes, they will all ‘discuss’ matters with the government and decide on how much tax they will pay. The IT Act does not give any right to the law or finance minister to decide on tax matters.”