New Delhi, Oct 22 (IANS) Intensifying its attack on the Modi government over bank frauds, the Congress on Monday demanded sacking of Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for "allowing" bank frauds to the tune of Rs 90,000 crore and "letting" fraudsters like Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi to flee the country.
Calling for Jaitley's resignation, Congress President Rahul Gandhi alleged that the Finance minister's daughter Sonali Jaitley was "on the payroll" of fugitive Mehul Choksi, wanted in Rs 13,500 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case.
"Arun Jaitlie's daughter was on the payroll of thief Mehul Choksi. Meanwhile her Finance Minister daddy sat on his file and allowed him to flee. She received money from ICICI a/c no: 12170500316," Gandhi tweeted.
Taking the fight to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Jaitley, Congress leader Sachin Pilot said that under the Bharatiya Janata Party government "an unprecedented 19,000 bank fraud cases involving Rs 90,000 crore" have taken place.
"At least 23 bank fraudsters have left India under their watch after duping the country by over Rs 53,000 crore.
"The 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 by wilful bank defaulters," Pilot told the media here.
Pilot questioned as to why Sonali Jaitley's legal firm accepted retainer fee from Choksi despite the Prime Minister's Office, the Finance and Corporate Affairs Ministry as well as various investigative agencies being aware of the fraud by Nirav Modi and Choksi.
"Sonali Jaitley and son-in- law, Jaiyesh Bakhshi proceeded to accept a retainership from Choksi's fraudster company in December 2017. A sum of Rs 24,00,000 was also received by them.
"This amount was redeposited on Feb 20 2018, well after both Nirav Modi and Choksi had fled the country," said Pilot.
"These are the people (Modi and Jaitley) who were officially helping the fraudsters, legally safeguarding them and politically protecting them to escape and run away," said Pilot demanding both the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister to speak up.
Alleging it to be a clear-cut case of "collusion, connivance and conflict of interest", the Congress questioned why Jaitley, his daughter and son-in-law have not been summoned or questioned by CBI and other agencies probing the scam.
The Congress demanded to know why action was not against Choksi and Nirav Modi despite multiple FIRs and complaints and also who facilitated their escape from the country.
Prime accused in the PNB fraud case, Nirav Modi and Choksi are under probe by both the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate.
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