By Abdul Bari Masoud
NEW DELHI: Targeting Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, the opposition Congress on Monday demanded that he should be “sacked” immediately as his daughter and son-in-law, both lawyers, allegedly received a retainership of Rs 24 lakh from fugitive Mehul Choksi. The party also alleged the Modi Government is more loyal to ‘Con-Man’ than to ‘Common-Man’.
Accusing the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government of conniving with fraudsters, who had escaped the country, the party leaders told reporters here that in the 44 months till 2018 January, the country under this government has witnessed an “unprecedented 19,000” ‘Bank Fraud Cases’ involving “Rs.90,000 Crores”.
Congress leader Sachin Pilot along with party colleagues Rajiv Satav and Sushmita Dev alleged that 23 fraudsters have escaped India under the Modi government watch after duping the country by over Rs.53, 000 Crores.
While citing the “conflict of interest of finance minister’s kin, Pilot said “a sinking economy, banking frauds and flying fraudsters form part of BJP’s-Jaitley’s ‘New India’ and demanded that the minister should resign on moral grounds.”
“Successive escapes of Vijay Mallya, Lalit Modi, Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and others reflect that Modi Govt is not a guardian of ‘Public Money’ but a ‘Travel Agency’ facilitating ‘Fraud, Fleece & Fly to Foreign Shores’ of willful bank defaulters”, he added.
“It is intriguing case of Arun Jaitley, being Union minister for finance and corporate affairs, his daughter Sonali Jaitley and son-in-law Jaiyesh Bakhshi proceeded to accept a retainership of Rs 24 lakh from Mehul Choksi’s fraudster company Gitanjali Gems Ltd in December 2017,” Pilot said.
Presenting documents to prove their allegation, Congress leaders said it is a clear-cut case of ‘Collusion’, ‘Connivance’ and ‘Conflict of Interest’ on part of the FM.
Why were FM Jaitley, his daughter and son-in-law neither summoned nor questioned by CBI/ED/SFIO? they asked.
They further said “Why was no action taken against Mehul Choksi/Nirav Modi/Geetanjali Gems Ltd. & Others, despite FIRs and multiple complaints (23.01.2015/7.5.2015/ Sept.2015/20.07.2016/ 03.05.2017) and why did Finance Ministry/ED/CBI/SFIO wait until 31.01.2018, helping them escape on 06.01.2018? Who protected them?
“Why did FM Jaitley’s daughter & son-in-law redeposit Rs.24 Lakh in the account of a company that had defrauded the banks & people of Rs.26, 306 Cr? Why did they hide it?”
Congress leaders insisted that it is a fit case to sack Jaitley and conduct a full independent investigation.