Arun Jaitley silent on PNB fraud to protect daughter, says Rahul Gandhi

Gandhi in his tweet about “other law firms” was referring to the searches carried out by the CBI at the Mumbai offices of Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas.

Breaking News : Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Monday alleged that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was silent on the Rs 127 billion PNB fraud case to “protect his lawyer daughter” and asked why her firm was not “raided”.

“It’s now revealed that our Finance Minister’s silence on the PNB (Punjab National Bank) scam was to protect his lawyer daughter, who was paid a large retainer by the accused just a month before the scam became public. When other law firms of the accused have been raided by the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation), why not hers?” Gandhi said in a tweet.

The Congress President also attached a tweet of the news website “The Wire” reading “You know you’re doing something right when the ruling dispensation tries to rebut a story that has not even been published yet”.

The Wire said on its site that it was investigating a lead and had sent a questionnaire to the law firm owned by Jaitley’s daughter and son-in-law, Jaiyesh Bakhshi.
In his reply, Bakhshi confirmed that the retainership had been received in December 2017 but this was returned in January 2018.

“We state that in December 2017, Chambers of Jaitley & Bakhshi were approached by M/s Geetanjali Gems Limited with a request for a retainer to represent them in their litigation and advisory matters… However, before any legal work could be sent to us, a news item appeared in the media with regard to their involvement in a banking scam. We therefore felt it appropriate to unilaterally cancel their engagement and return their retainer,” Bakhshi told The Wire.

The Wire, according to its Founder-Editor M K Venu, did not find the story worth publishing. But, he said a “BJP-leaning website,” wrote about this claiming The Wire was planning to do such a story to “ensnare” Jaitley.

Gandhi in his tweet about “other law firms” was referring to the searches carried out by the CBI at the Mumbai offices of Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas — a leading law firm which was reportedly hired by the key accused Nirav Modi around a month before the scam broke in mid-February.

→ Rahul Gandhi on PNB Fraud ←

Another loan default case: Corporation bank reports Rs 68 mn-fraud to CBI

This comes amid CBI’s probe into recent complaints of massive frauds in Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda, Oriental Bank of Commerce.

Corporation Bank Fraud : The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has booked an auto dealer in Jamshedpur for allegedly defrauding the Corporation Bank to the tune of Rs 67.7 million (Rs 6.77 crore).

The agency has booked auto dealer Ramnandi Estates Pvt Ltd and its directors Akhouri Gopal, Sanjeeta Akhouri, Akhouri Nishant and Akhouri Nitesh.

An empanelled valuer of the Corporation Bank Sanjay Kumar has also been named as accused in the FIR.

A loan of Rs 100 million (Rs 10 crore) was allegedly sanctioned to the company from the zonal office of the bank in Patna for setting up a showroom and service centre in 2014.

It is alleged that the loan was sanctioned on the basis of highly enhanced valuation reports of securities.

The bank has alleged that the accused defaulted on the loan, which was declared Non-Performing Asset in September 2016 causing a loss of Rs 67.7 million (Rs 6.77 crore).

The alleged fraud comes amid CBI’s probe into recent complaints of massive frauds in the Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda and Oriental Bank of Commerce.

→ PNB Fraud Case Full Text ←