Shah slams Cong, Capt defends his son-in-law

CHANDIGARH: The alleged loan fraud in the Oriental Bank of Commerce took a political colour on Monday as BJP chief Amit Shah accused the Congress of corruption while Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh defended his son-in-law, who is one of the suspects.

The case involves Delhi-based Simbhaoli Sugars Limited, one of the largest sugar mills in the country, which allegedly cheated the state-owned bank of more than ₹97 crore in 2015. The bank had filed a case with the CBI, which then filed an FIR against the company’s chairman and managing director Gurmit Singh Mann and deputy managing director Gurpal Singh, who is the son-in-law of Amarinder Singh.

The Punjab CM said on Monday that attempts were being made to politicise the case with unsubstantiated charges against Gurpal, who he said is a minority shareholder with 12.5% shares in the company. He said the alleged fraud has been the subject mat- ter of proceedings before the debts recovery tribunal (DRT) in Lucknow in a suit filed by the bank. It was settled between the company and the bank, and was recorded by the tribunal by way of a consent order dated March 16, 2015, he said. Amarinder said Gurpal had refused to sign documents to give any personal guarantee against the loan in question, prompting the bank to amend the loan papers on February 12, 2015.

The bank waived off the requirement of Gurpal’s signature on any guarantee documents, he said.

His statement came after the BJP chief targeted the Congress over the alleged bank fraud.

Shah reposted a now-deleted Twitter post of the Congress, highlighting the fraud and wrote: “Why delete this tweet highlighting the loot of @capt_amarinder’s son-in-law. Congress has always been at the forefront of highlighting their own robberies such as the NPA mess, bad loans, the free hand they gave to Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi. #CongresslootsFarmers,” Shah wrote.