Ravi Shankar Prasad cites loose alliance' between Congress, Mehul Choksi
New Delhi: Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Thursday alleged that the Congress party had a 'loose alliance' with absconding diamond merchant Mehul Choksi.
Prasad told news agency ANI that he came to know about the connection between the embattled businessman and the grand old party after a news channel broadcasted an interview of one of the international lawyers of Choksi namely, David Dorset.
Quoting the lawyer, the Union Minister said, "Mehul Choksi was an ordinary businessman who had some loose alliance with what is now the opposition party in India, the Congress."
The Union Minister further claimed that the gross income of Choksi's company rapidly increased during the Congress regime.
"Mehul Choksi's revenue suddenly increased at a time the Congress party was in power," he said.
Meanwhile, Prasad also said that the Central government in collaboration with the international authorities are carrying out a thorough investigation in the connection.
Reportedly, the Indian High Commission in Antigua and Barbuda had asked the authorities there to stop billionaire diamond trader Mehul Choksi from travelling around the world.
A Special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Mumbai on July 26 issued summons against both absconding businessmen Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi in connection with the Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case.
The PNB detected the multi-crore scam earlier this year wherein Nirav and Choksi had allegedly cheated the bank to the tune of USD 2 billion, with the purported involvement of a few employees of the bank.
