Modi, Jaitley haven't spoken a word: Rahul launches all-out attack on Govt
New Delhi: The Congress on Saturday launched an all-out attack on the NDA government over the alleged multi-crore PNB fraud involving Nirav Modi, saying a scam of such magnitude could not have taken place without "top-level protection", and questioned the prime minister's silence on the issue.
The Congress president asked PM Modi to explain why it had happened and what steps were being taken to ensure the banking system was safe in India.
"The fact of the matter is that the prime minister has, through his actions, destroyed the financial system of this country. He has demonetised the economy. He has taken money from people's pockets and put it into the banking sector and now his friends and cronies are stealing it from the banking sector and the prime minister is not saying anything," he charged.
The Congress Steering Committee, which functions in place of the Working Committee, also adopted a resolution asking the prime minister to tell the nation the reasons for "failure of the fraud detection ability" of the entire banking sector and the finance ministry.
The Steering Committee, which fixed that the party's plenary session would be held in Delhi on March 16, 17 and 18 to decide the future strategy of the Congress, said the "biggest bank scam" has exposed the complete failure of "regulatory mechanism" and "fraud detection ability" of the banking sector and the failure of oversight by the Reserve Bank of India and the finance ministry.
"The manner in which thousands of crores of rupees of public money was looted with impunity and the complete failure of entire risk management system tell its own story of favours extended and protection granted," it said.
Gandhi said that instead of spending an hour-and-a-half explaining to children how to take exams, the prime minister should explain to the people of India what is going to be done to Nirav Modi and "what is he going to do to make sure that the banking system is safe".
The Congress chief said the defence minister and social justice minister were briefing on the issue, but "the FM and the PM, who are responsible, have not spoken a word about it".
He said he agreed with former finance minister P Chidambaram who said during the meeting that a scam of this level which the prime minister "is ignoring", "cannot have been committed without high-level protection".
"It must have been known to the people in government beforehand. Otherwise, it is not possible because the amount is so huge," he said.
Nirav Modi, 46, a regular feature on the lists of rich and famous Indians since 2013, was booked by the CBI, along with wife, brother and Gitanjali Group promoter Mehul Choksi on January 31, for allegedly cheating the state-run PNB to the tune of Rs. 280 crore.
The bank subsequently sent two more complaints to the CBI on Tuesday, saying the scam was worth more than Rs. 11,400 crore.
The jewellery designer is understood to be a citizen of the country but his brother Nishal and wife Ami are not Indian nationals. They all left India between January 1 and 6, the CBI had said.
