Congress Exposed! UPA regime helped billionaire Jeweler Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi to import 2000 Kg gold without verification

New Delhi, March 7: Exposing Congress party over its support for corruption on Wednesday, Law and Justice Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that the UPA government helped billionaire Jeweler Nirav Modi and his accomplice Mehul Choksi by allowing import of around 2,000-kilogram gold without any verification.

 

Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad launched a scathing attack on UPA regime and exposed the then Finance Minister P. Chidambaram who opened all doors to help billionaire Jeweler Nirav Modi and his accomplice Mehul Choksi by allowing import of around 2,000 Kg gold without any verification under 80:20 gold scheme.

“On 15th May 2014, P Chidambaram announced a new policy, in which Star Trade Operators were attached to premium trading houses which included Gitanjali Jewellers,” Ravi Shankar Prasad added. Describing it as "downright racket" the minister said, “The UPA government, during P Chidambaram's tenure, opened all doors for favourable companies. The ones who were prohibited from participating in the 80:20 gold scheme were also brought into the fold.”

"These trading houses were allowed to import gold up to 2,000 kg from any port of India without any control or verification which is a downright racket," Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad alleged saying that the Congress government even violated the Model Code of Conduct during the 2014 General Elections. The Union Law Minister also noted that the RBI too violated the Model Code of Conduct.

Interestingly, in August 2013, the Congress government introduced the 80:20 rule, which provisioned traders to import gold, but only after they had exported 20 percent of gold from their previous import. However, the rule was scrapped in November 2014 after the NDA came to power.

On February 14 this year, one of the biggest fraudulent case hit Mumbai where Punjab National Bank reported that it has detected fraudulent and unauthorized transactions in one of its branches in Mumbai. The cumulative fraud amounts to US $1,771.69 billion i.e. Rs 11,378.68 Crores.

Billionaire Diamond Jeweler Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and others are being investigated by multiple probe agencies after a recent complaint by the PNB, that they allegedly cheated the bank to the tune of 11,400 crore rupees. After the scam was unveiled, the Enforcement Directorate registered an FIR under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act against Nirav Modi and his Mumbai-based firms Diamonds R Us, Solar Exports and Stellar Diamonds.

Nirav Modi and his brother Nishal Modi left the country on 1st of January this year. Nirav Modi's wife, an American citizen, left India on 6 January while Mehul Choksi left the country on 4 January. CBI received a complaint from PNB on 29th Jan 2018 and registered the case on 31st January.