No corruption in Jay’s firm, did zero business with govt: Amit Shah

Amit Shah with his wife at their son Jay Shah’s wedding in Ahmedabad. (File Photo)

Five days after the website The Wire reported that the turnover of Amit Shah’s son Jay Shah’s company had grown 16,000 times after the BJP came to power at the Centre in 2014, the BJP president on Friday said that there is no question of corruption in his son’s firm, and that it had not done “even one rupee worth of business with the government”.

At a function hosted by Aaj Tak news channel in Gujarat, Shah said: “There is no question of corruption in business dealings of Jay Shah. The business was of commodity trade, which is (a) high-value, low-profit venture. If the company’s turnover becomes Rs 1 crore, its profit does not become Rs1 crore.” He said, “After achieving a turnover of Rs 80 crore, his company suffered a loss of Rs 1.5 crore. Despite this turnover, he did not earn profit. All the payments were made through cheque; there is no question of money laundering.”

On Wednesday, a Gujarat court had adjourned hearing on a criminal defamation petition filed by Jay Shah against The Wire for publishing the report on an application filed on behalf of senior lawyer S V Raju, representing Jay, on his non availability. Jay had also filed a civil defamation suit at Ahmedabad district (Mirzapur) court against the website and sought damages of Rs 100 crore. Slamming the Congress, the BJP president said that the opposition party did not file a single defamation suit despite facing several charges of corruption during the 10 years of UPA government. He said, “I want to raise some questions here. The Congress has faced many allegations of corruption. Has the party ever filed a criminal defamation, or a Rs 100-crore civil defamation suit? Why could it not gather the courage to file such a suit?”

“As far as the company (of Jay Shah) is concerned, it has not done business worth a rupee with the government. It has not got government land worth a rupee. It has not got any government contract worth even a rupee…. The company has not taken a commission, like in the case of Bofors,” Shah said, referring to the payoff scandal that had rocked the then Congress government.

Jay’s company, Shah said, dealt in commodities such as rice and millet. “They (Opposition) are saying that the turnover of the company was Rs 80 crore, but they are not showing that it incurred a loss of Rs 1.5 crore. This is a high-volume, low-profit business. Where is money laundering in it,” he asked. Asked about the loan given to the company, Shah said, “You have to understand first that it was not a loan, but a letter of credit. We were given a credit to lift material against cash deposits. Jay’s cash was lying in the bank, and we have paid the loan with interest.”

– PTI inputs