On Saturday, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi hit back at Nirmala Sitharaman over he comments linking his wife and son to Nirav Modi's business.
On Saturday, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi hit back at Nirmala Sitharaman over he comments linking his wife and son to Nirav Modi's business.
The Congress spokesperson threatened Nirmala Sitharaman with civil and criminal defamation for making ‘ignorant and patently false comments’. He said that neither he, his wife nor his sons had anything to do with Gitanjali Gems or Nirav Modi.
He said: “Nirmala Sitharaman & her colleagues are liable to civil & criminal defamation for making ignorant & patently false allegations. I reserve my rights to take all such appropriate legal action against the latter & all parts of media which carry such allegations.”
He added: “Neither my wife, sons nor me have anything whatsoever to do with #Gitanjali or #NiravModi companies. The company was a tenant of a Kamla Mills property owned by Adwait holdings in which my wife & sons are a director. Adwait Holding owns a commercial property at Parel, as it does elsewhere, which was rented by Firestone many years ago. Neither Adwait nor my family has any interest with Modi or Firestone. Firestone vacated Parel Kamla Mills premises in December 2017.”
Nirmala Sitaharaman had said that one of the companies owned by Nirav Modi – Fire Star Diamond International Private Limited – had takenon lease property which belonged to Advait Holding in Trade Point Buidling in Lower Parel.
She had said: “Fire Star Diamond I'nal Pvt Ltd is one of the companies that #NiravModi runs. They've taken on lease property which belongs to Advait Holding Ltd in Trade Point Building in Lower Parel. From 2002 Anita Singhvi is one of the shareholders. You know whose wife she's”
The BJP alleged that the multi-crore PNB scam involving billionaire jewellery designer Nirav Modi happened during the UPA rule and the Congress was spreading lies.
The BJP fielded Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to counter the Congress charge that the scam took place in 2017 under the Modi government when the letters of understanding were signed by the Punjab National Bank in favour of Nirav Modi.
She said Nirav Modi may have been able to run away from the country, but the government is taking action against him.
"We are not conspiring to help scamsters flee the country, the BJP government is catching them instead," she told reporters.
She accused the Congress of spreading lies on the issue.
Sitharaman also alleged that it was Congress leader Rahul Gandhi who attended a promotional event hosted by Nirav Modi.
She also cited the example of a government director of Allahabad Bank, who in 2013 had raised objections to the financial restructuring of Gitanjali Gems, saying he was asked to resign and his dissent was not even recorded.
Congress leader Kapil Sibal accused the prime minister and his government of bringing the economy to its knees, and warned that the country's image would get a beating internationally under him.
He also took a dig at Modi, alleging that while he was "sleeping" as the country's watchman, thieves were fleeing with the nation's wealth.
Quoting the second FIR filed by the CBI in the case, the Congress leader said that all letters of understanding (LoUs) to the accused were signed in 2017 under the NDA government, which failed to prevent the scam from happening.
Addressing a joint press conference with Congress communications in-charge Randeep Surjewala, Shaktisinh Gohil and Pawan Khera, Sibal sought to know why Modi refused to divulge details of all those people who accompanied him during his foreign tours.
"Is this the kind of 'Ease of Doing Business' PM Modi talks about?" he asked.
"I challenge BJP to come and talk about UPA's governance and their governance. Because of their ill-intentions, they have brought India's economy to its knees," he told reporters.
Sibal, a former minister and noted lawyer, accused the Prime Minister's office and the finance ministry of turning a blind eye to the multi-crore bank scam, saying they were very much aware of it.
"They were aware of all this. But they turned a blind eye. They were aware that the country was being looted," he alleged.
Sibal also questioned why the HRD Minister and the Social Justice Minister were fielded by the government to defend it on the matter.
"What does a HRD Minister have to do with this? Is the minister very admiring of the quality of the human resource of Nirav Modi? What is the Social Justice Minister have to do with this? What has the Law Ministry to do with this scam?" he asked and said neither the finance ministry nor the RBI has come forward to answer questions.
He also alleged that the market capitalisation of listed companies in the gems and jewellery business is pegged at Rs 41.66 billion, while its gross current debt stands at Rs 94 billion.
"This means that the debt is twice the market capitalisation and that is a scam in itself. Who can say that the government did not know this," he asked.
Nirav Modi, 46, a regular feature on the lists of rich and famous Indians since 2013, was booked by the CBI, along with wife, brother and Choksi on January 31, for allegedly cheating the state-run PNB to the tune of Rs 280 crore.
The bank subsequently sent two more complaints to the CBI on Tuesday, saying the scam was worth more than Rs 11,400 crore.
The jewellery designer is understood to be a citizen of the country but his brother Nishal and wife Ami are not Indian nationals. They all left India between January 1 and 6, the CBI had said.
The CBI has arrested two officials of Punjab National Bank, including a now retired deputy manager, and an authorised signatory of billionaire Nirav Modi's company in connection with alleged fraudulent transactions of Rs 11,400 crore, officials said.
Gokulnath Shetty, then deputy manager (now retired), Manoj Kharat, a single window operator of PNB, and Hemant Bhat were taken into custody by the agency in connection with its FIR registered on January 31 against Modi, his companies and uncle Mehul Choski, they said. The FIR has listed eight fraudulent transactions worth over Rs 280 crore but based on further complaints from the bank the CBI now says the amount investigated in the first FIR is over Rs 6,498 crore, involving 150 Letters of Understanding allegedly fraudulently issued by Shetty and Kharat. The remaining 150 fraudulent LOUs worth over Rs 4,886 crore issued for Gitanjali group of companies are part of the second FIR registered yesterday by the agency against Choksi and his companies Gitanjali Gems, Nakshatra Brands and Gili, they said.
All these LOUs were issued or renewed during 2017-18, the officials said.
With inputs from PTI
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