New Delhi: Congress today (Mar 12, 2004) alleged multi-crore scam in disinvestment of Government stake in blue chip firms like ONGC (Oil and Natural Gas Corp) saying SEBI's (Securities and Exchange Board of India) "admission of error" in calculation of over-subscription was a "deliberate attempt to cheat" ordinary investors and demanded a high level inquiry to bring the guilty to book.

Stating the Government was ultimately responsible for the "scam", party spokesman Kapil Sibal demanded resignation of the Disinvestment Minister Arun Shourie for "misguiding" investors by publicising over-subscription of ONGC issue within minutes of its opening and later admitting an error in calculation of bids received for buying Government shares in the company.

The public issue of 10 per cent Government share-holding in ONGC attracted flurry of investors' interests after the stock exchanges reported that the entire offering of 14.2 crore shares were subscribed in just 11 minutes of its opening.

Sibal said the responsibility should also be fixed on SEBI which is supposed to guard investors' interests as a market watchdog appointed by the Government.

"How can you dupe ordinary people by such means. The Government has been announcing that the public issue was oversubscribed which turned out to be false. This is something which has to be investigated as it is not an isolated incident," Sibal said.