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The ruckus in both the Houses of Parliament continued over the Punjab National Bank scam for the second day, on Tuesday. The meetings of leaders of various parties did not fetch any results as the Opposition insisted that nothing less that a statement from Prime Minister Narendra Modi is acceptable while the Centre was non committal on the PM’s presence, but said it is ready for a debate on the issue in both the Houses.
The Congress, meanwhile, stepped up the attack against the BJP over the scam. Party members protested in front of the Gandhi statue in the House complex demanding an explanation from the Centre on the whereabouts of scam accused Nirav Modi.
Talking to reporters, Congress’s media in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala said fleece, flee and fly is the new mantra of fraudsters under Modi government’s watch. “Fraud, bank-loot, cheating, swindling of banks and common people are getting unravelled every day.
A bundle of scams
“Bank of Baroda foreign exchange scam ₹6,400 crore, Vijay Mallya bank scam ₹9,000 crore, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi bank loot ₹22,606 crore, Mehul Choksi ‘Jan Dhan Loot Yojana’ ₹5,000 crore, Vikram Kothari Rotomac scam ₹3,695 crore, Dwarkadas Jeweller bank scam ₹390 crore, Canara Bank scam ₹515 crore, Winsome bank loot scam ₹6,712 crore — the total adds up to ₹54,318 crore. The culprits escaped the country despite complaints against them with the PM’s Office,” Surjewala said.
Deputy leader of the Congress in Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma said that to deflect the attention of people from the scams, the Centre is pointing fingers at former Finance Minister P Chidambaram. Retorting to Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad’s allegation that Chidambaram helped Choksi with sops for gold import, Sharma said under the exim policy of the then government, the Centre allowed registered agencies including PSUs to import gold. “There was a sharp increase in the import of gold because of the festival season. There was a pressure on current account because of the sharp rise in the petroleum prices and India’s trade account was in distress and the gap was increasing. Therefore the Finance Ministry put certain restrictions on the import of gold... It was an RBI circular,” he added.
On extending the custody of Karti Chidambaram, he said the Centre is overzealous in the case to settle political scores. “If the CBI would have been put on alert, Nirav Modi and Choksi would have been in it’s custody. This government is guilty of blatant misuse of power and central agencies.”
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