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BJP chief Amit Shah on Friday refuted charges of corruption involving his son Jay’s company, and said it had not any received government land or contract.
Shah was referring to a report in the news portal The Wire, which claimed that a company owned by Jay Shah saw a huge rise in turnover after the BJP came to power in 2014.
Hitting out at the Congress, the BJP President pointed out that the party had not filed any defamation suit despite facing several corruption charges, while his son Jay Shah had moved court over the allegations against him.
“Have they ever filed a criminal defamation or a ₹100-crore civil defamation suit (like Jay has). Why could they not gather the courage to file such a suit?” Shah asked at a programme organised by a TV channel here.
“As far as the company 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 commission like in the case of Bofors,” Shah said, referring to a gun pay-off scandal that had rocked the then Congress government in the late 1980s.
The company, he added, dealt in commodities like rice and millets. “They are saying that the turnover of the company was ₹80 crore, but they are not showing that it incurred a loss of ₹1.5 crore. This is a high-volume, low-profit business. Where is money laundering in it?” Shah asked.
Replying to a query on 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 credit to lift material against cash deposits. Jay’s cash was lying in the bank and we have paid the loan with interest.”
The Congress has demanded a judicial inquiry into the matter and removal of Amit Shah as BJP president. The BJP has rejected the charges against its chief’s son, who has termed the report “false, derogatory and defamatory”.
The Congress raked up the issue during its recent campaigns in Gujarat, where elections are due in December. Party Vice-President Rahul Gandhi repeatedly raised the issue during his road-shows in the State.
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