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The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday, 6 February, attacked the Congress for putting out posters of Rahul Gandhi and Robert Vadra in front of the party’s office. Addressing him as “criminal” in a press conference, BJP Spokesperson Sambit Patra alleged Vadra of being involved with middlemen in the AgustaWestland scam, and said his firms received kickbacks through a number of deals during the UPA government.
Patra spoke about the raids which were conducted at Vadra’s office, and how his close aide Manoj Arora was questioned in December, last year.
Patra alleged that Vadra had purchased properties in London with the kickbacks he received via two sources – a petroleum deal in 2008 during the UPA regime, and the defence deal on purchase of 75 Swiss Pilatus PC-7 worth Rs 2,896 crore.
However, Vadra has denied allegations of possessing illegal foreign assets and termed them a “political witch hunt” against him.
Vadra says he was being “hounded and harassed” to serve political ends.
Talking about Vadra’s questioning by the ED, Congress Spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said, "The election season is on and we expect that every day, when a summon is to be answered, there will be a press conference." The attempt is to mislead, confuse and create an ambience before the election, but people see through this, he added.
Meanwhile, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday slammed the Centre for the interrogation of Robert Vadra by the Enforcement Directorate, claiming that BJP was deliberately doing it ahead of the general elections. BJP cannot scare the Opposition with such tactics of sending notices casually to everybody, she asserted.
Kickbacks via Petroleum Deals
Elaborating on the details, Patra alleged a company named Syntec International received kickbacks from the petroleum deal in 2008 under the UPA-1 regime, which was used by Vadra to buy a flat worth 1.9 million pounds in London. The company is owned by arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari, who is already under ED's investigation in the procurement of 75 Swiss Pilatus PC-7, he added.
Rebutting BJP’s charges, Singhvi said, the move shows it is nothing but an electoral jumla. “The ED, the CBI and the other agencies could not even do anything to find culpable evidence. Why is it necessary for a spokesperson of the ruling party to hold a press conference on what he calls serious charges,” questioned Singhvi.
Kickbacks via Defence Deals
On the issue of defence deals, Patra alleged that Sanjay Bhandari’s company Offset India Solutions received all the kickbacks for the deals under the UPA regime.
“On 9 January 2018, a letter was obtained from Bhandari’s house under the Official Secrets Act. The confidential documents containing the proposal to buy the Mid Air Refuelers, were found at Bhandari’s house, which were supposed to be with the Defence Ministry.”Sambit Patra, BJP Spokesperson
Further, he alleged there were rumours back in 2018, that the Rafale documents were found at Bhandari’s house. The important documents under the Defence Acquisition Council were obtained, and this was the time when Bhandari’s company was under the scanner of the CBI for the Pilatus aircraft deal, Patra added.
Referring to an email trail, he alleged that Vadra's company received kickbacks from a series of companies floated to “turn black money into white”.
However, Vadra who was questioned by the ED, has denied any association with Sanjay Bhandari. He also denied that he directly or indirectly owns properties in London.
Reacting to BJP, Singhvi claimed that the charges against Vadra are fickle, superficial, non-existent, non-substantive in nature. BJP had four-and-a-half years to investigate but could not find anything, he said.
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