Govt aware 'dirty dealings' of Nirav, Choksi, says Congress
New Delhi: In a fresh attack on the government at the Centre, which is led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Congress on Monday alleged that the government's inaction provided fugitive businessmen Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi a chance to flee the country before the Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam broke in February this year.
According to senior Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala, the Centre was aware of the "dirty dealings" of Nirav Modi and his uncle Choksi but did not act on it.
"A 10,000-page 'Income Tax Probe Report' on PM Modi's Mehul Choksi and Nirav Modi was finalised by the agency on June 8, 2017. Even though key investing agencies such as Finance Ministry's Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) were well aware of the massive scam since January 2015, the government didn't share the report with them," Surjewala claimed while talking to reporters on Monday.
The Congress leader further claimed that a "corruption tsunami" had unleashed under the Modi government with 19,000 bank fraud cases being reported.
"Twenty-three fraudsters have escaped India under their watch after duping the country by over Rs 53,000 crore," Surjewala said, adding, "Successive escapes of Vijay Mallya, Lalit Modi, Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and others reflect that the Modi government is not a guardian of public money but a travel agency facilitating fraud, fleece and fly to foreign shores of wilful bank defaulters."
The Congress has put the two-time service extension given to Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) Chairman Sushil Chaandra under the scanner.
"This is the plain and simple reason why Chandra was given extension first in June 2017 and then in may 2018 by the Modi government."
Chandra, who was the Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax in Ahmedabad and was heading the Gujarat region was first appointed as a member of CBDT in December 2015.
Citing the Income tax Report, the Congress leader said, "Nirav Modi's Firestar International Pvt Ltd received Rs 284.14 crore from a Cyprus-based 'Jade Bridge Holdings Pvt Ltd and a Mauritius firm 'Forcom Worldwide Investment Ltd' in 2013-14."
"Firestar also received Rs 271 crore from another Singapore-based firm Islington International Holdings Pvt Ltd, owned by his sister Purvi Mehta. The IT report says that the documents claimed to be submitted by Jade Bridge and Forcom were prepared at Nirav Modi's office in India itself and the source of these funds 'remain suspicious'," Surjewala said.
The Congress asked the government to explain why the Income Tax Department's report was not shared with other agencies and what was the role of CBDT chief Chandra in the investigation?
"From June 2017, when this report came, till May 2018, when all these fugitives ran away, Chandra was the chairman of CBDT under which the Income Tax Department works," Surjewala said, adding, "What was his role in helping Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi run away?"
Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi are accused of defrauding the PNB of over Rs 13,000 crore. The fraud came to light in February when the bank informed the BSE that it had detected "fraudulent and unauthorised transactions" worth Rs 11,380 crore at a branch in South Mumbai.
A few officials of the public sector bank had allegedly issued fraudulent Letters of Undertaking to Modi's companies. Both Modi and Choksi left the country in January, weeks before the scam became public. The bank later raised the estimated fraud amount to over Rs 13,000 crore.
