The Congress on Monday alleged that the government’s inaction provided fugitive businessmen Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi a chance to flee India before the Punjab National Bank scam broke in February. The Congress claimed that the Centre was aware of the “dirty dealings” of Nirav Modi and his uncle Choksi, but did not act on it.
The Congress’ statement came after The Indian Express on Monday reported that the Income Tax Department had prepared a report on Modi and Choksi in June 2017, red-flagging bogus purchases, dubious loans, suspicious payments to relatives, eight months before the scam broke. According to the newspaper, the report was not shared with other agencies such as the Central Bureau of Investigation, Serious Fraud Investigation Office, Enforcement Directorate and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence until February this year.
The Income Tax Department searched Modi’s firms and surveyed the companies owned by Choksi, said The Indian Express. According to the department’s report, the Nirav Modi Group and Gitanjali Group made bogus purchases of Rs 344.4 crore and Rs 2,021 crore, respectively, from three accommodation entry firms in Mumbai.
The Congress claimed a “corruption tsunami” had unleashed under the Narendra 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,” Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala said. “Successive escapes of Vijay Mallya, Lalit Modi, Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and others reflect that the [Narendra] 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 asked the government to explain why the Income Tax Department’s report was not shared with other agencies and what was the role of Central Bureau of Direct Taxes chief Sushil Chandra in the investigation.
“From June 2017, when this report came, till May 2018, when all these fugitives ran away, Sushil Chandra was the chairman of CBDT under which the Income Tax Department works,” Surjewala said at a press conference. “What was his role in helping Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi run away?”
Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi are accused of defrauding the Punjab National Bank 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 Janaury, weeks before the scam became public. The bank later raised the estimated fraud amount to over Rs 13,000 crore.
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