The Congress on Sunday slammed the Narendra Modi government over a report that said the turnover of a company owned by BJP chief Amit Shah's son Jay Shah increased 16,000 times since the elevation of Shah as the party president.
File photo of Kapil Sibal. PTI
They also demanded a probe by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the matter.
Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal said, "How can a company with no inventory or assets post a turnover of Rs 80.5 crore? Will the prime minister ask CBI to act against Amit Shah's son?" senior Congressman Kapil Sibal said.
“Today, we want to ask our prime minister what you now think about crony capitalism. Will you direct the CBI to probe? Will you direct the ED to probe? Will you ask them to arrest them? Because in the case of opposition, the ED immediately sends notice and shows speed in arresting them. If somebody’s name is Jay, Amit and Shah who can arrest them. I can confidently tell you that the prime minister will remain silent,” The Indian Express quoted Sibal as saying.
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi added that it was Shah's family who had ultimately benefitted out of demonetisation.
We finally found the only beneficiary of Demonetisation. It's not the RBI, the poor or the farmers. It's the Shah-in-Shah of Demo. Jai Amit https://t.co/2zHlojgR2c
— Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) October 8, 2017
The comments from Congress leaders had come after The Wire reported that Jay Shah’s company, Temple Enterprise Private Ltd, jumped from its revenue of Rs 50,000 in 2014-15 to Rs 80.5 crore in 2015-16.
According to the report, filings with the Registrar of Companies (RoC) have revealed that the company started making profits after 2014, the same year when Modi was elected the prime minister.
According to RoC filings, the company is engaged in wholesale trade and most of its revenues come from the sale of agricultural products.
The report said that the company received an unsecured loan of Rs 15.78 crore from a financial services firm owned by Rajesh Khandwala, the in-law of Parimal Nathwani, a Rajya Sabha MP and senior executive of Reliance Industries.
However, the report says that Khandwala's firm’s annual report does not reflect this loan.
Responding to the allegations, Shah’s lawyer Manik Dogra said that turnover was not “abnormally high” in the commodity business. The company, which showed such high profit, shut down in October 2016.
“Unfortunately, the business activities of the Temple Enterprise Private Ltd resulted in losses due to which the business activities were stopped sometime in October 2016,” Dogra said.
Published Date: Oct 08, 2017 05:24 pm | Updated Date: Oct 08, 2017 06:05 pm
