Chidu’s gold scheme aided Choksi, Nirav: Ravi Shankar

Amid attacks from the Congress over the Rs 12,600-crore PNB scam, the BJP on Monday accused former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram of aiding jewellers Mehul Choksi and Nirav Modi through an 80:20 gold import scheme.

BJP leader and Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that Chidambaram gave his "blessings and benefits under the 80:20 scheme" to seven private jewellers on May 16, 2014, the day the results of Lok Sabha polls were announced.

"These seven jewellers included Geetanjali and Star jewellers," Prasad said.

He said the 80:20 gold import scheme was started in August 2013 under the UPA government and was repealed by the Narendra Modi government three months after it came to power. The 80:20 scheme was brought for nominated banks/ agencies/ entities to "rationalise" import of gold in any form to tame the current account deficit.

"It was expected of the then learned Finance Minister that he will follow constitutional norms (of not taking important decisions)," Prassad said.

"Chidambaram should say, Rahul Gandhi should say why benefits were passed on to seven private companies under 80:20 scheme on May 16. The nation wants to know," he asked.

He said Chidambaram's order was subsequently cleared by the Reserve Bank of India on May 21. "Mr. Chidambaram, is it 'jumla' or corruption? We want that real picture of Chidambaram should come before people.