Congress seeks Railway Minister Piyush Goyal's ouster over his alleged link with company defaulting Rs 650 crore

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Wednesday alleged "impropriety" and "conflict of interest" on the part of Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, saying a company associated with him in the past was given a "haircut" loan waiver of 65 per cent on the outstanding loan amount of over Rs 650 crore.

The party sought his removal from the Union Cabinet and a judicial investigation by a Supreme Court judge into the case.

Talking to the media, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said: "A damning tale of conflict of interest, sweetened deals, gross impropriety and bank loan defaults by Shirdi Industries Ltd with past and present affiliation to Piyush Goyal and his family is out in open."

Azad, who was accompanied by party leader M. Veerapa Moily and party spokesperson Pawan Khera, said Goyal was chairman and full-time director of Shirdi Industries Ltd from April 25, 2008 to July 1, 2010. The company had worked out a loan of Rs 258.62 crore from a consortium of banks headed by the Union Bank of India.

The Congress leader said that Shirdi Industries was declared sick on June 8, 2015, almost a year after the Modi government came to power.

"Despite Shirdi Industries Ltd (of Rakesh Agarwal and Mukesh Bansal) being declared 'sick', their sister company Asis Industries proceeded to grant an unsecured loan of Rs 1.59 crore in 2015-16 to Intercon Advisors Pvt Ltd, a company owned by Seema Goyal, the wife of the Union Minister," he alleged.

Azad said Goyal was also director of this company from September 15, 2005 to July 22, 2013.

He said that Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code Amending Act, 2017 prohibits a promoter of sick company from submitting bids before the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).

"Shirdi Industries went to NCLT. Outstanding loan amount of consortium of banks was Rs 651.87 crore. Shockingly, the consortium of banks agreed to take a haircut (waiver) of 65 per cent of loan amount and settled for Rs 228.85 crore," he said.

"Surprisingly, no one raised an objection that the promoter of Shirdi Industries could not make a bid in view of the prohibitions contained in the insolvency code," he added.

The Congress leader alleged that Rakesh Agarwal of Shridi Industries was "proximate" to Goyal as he was the director in another company along with the brother of Union Minister.

He said Piyush Goyal and his wife were directors in another company and were succeeded by the sons of Agarwal and Bansal.

"The web of corporate entities that ties Piyush Goyal and his family to Rakesh Agarwal/ Mukesh Bansal is glaringly apparent," Azad stressed.

Raising questions, the Congress leaders asked if it was "not a clear-cut case of conflict of interest and impropriety" on the part of Goyal.

The party asked if Goyal had declared his status as a chairman/whole-time director of Shirdi Industries as Rs 258.62 crore loan was raised from the UBI consortium.

It asked why Goyal had not declared the unsecured loan given to his wife's company in his public filing available on the PMO website.