BJP, Cong trade blame over banking fraud
new delhi — The ruling BJP on Saturday blamed the Congress for the “original sin” that led to the alleged Rs115 billion banking fraud by jeweller Nirav Modi and his partner Mehul Choksi. The opposition party returned the attack calling it “cheap sense of politics that has reached ludicrous and ridiculous proportions”.
Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, fielded by the BJP to respond to allegations that the Modi government failed in preventing the alleged scam and stopping the accused kingpins from fleeing the country, said Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi’s family had stocks in one of the companies of the billionaire fugitives.
“The Congress indulges in such scandalous affairs, misuses important positions in government, then quietly covers up everything they do. Instead of explaining how it happened during their period, they are casting allegations. Original sin in this episode of Nirav Modi was committed in 2011,” Sitharaman said.
She said Congress president Rahul Gandhi and party spokesperson Singhvi had links with the businessmen who are on the run.
The Punjab National Bank disclosed the massive fraud on Wednesday detailing that the luxurious diamond merchants leveraged the loopholes in the banking system and sought letters of undertaking (LoU) and raised credit from foreign banks to pay its merchants. The CBI, the main probing agency, has said in its FIR that a majority of the LoUs in the scam were either issued or were renewed in the bank in 2017-18.
The defence minister was armed with a pile of documents which she alleged pointed at how Rahul promoted the businessmen and benefited from the scam.
“Gitanjali Gems was suspended for six months from doing business on NSE in 2013. On 13 September 2013, Rahul Gandhi attends a promotion event of this jewellery group.
“On 15 September 2013, a proposal of giving additional loans to the tune of Rs15 billion to the same jewellery group is mooted in Allahabad Bank board meeting. Join the dots,” she said.—