The Nirav Modi-Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam continues to make news with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress throwing allegations at each other.
After Rahul Gandhi questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s silence on the scam in a poetic tweet on Monday, 19 February, BJP’s Member of Parliament (MP) Brij Bhushan Sharan lashed out at the Congress vice president, equating him to a barking dog.
There is a saying, dogs keep barking but the elephant goes on. The Prime Minister is serving the country. Those who want to bark can keep barking.Brij Bhushan Sharan, BJP MP
Sharan said, “Rahul Gandhi has no right to attack the BJP over the PNB scam. The scam began in their (UPA) regime.”
“Now that the government has started tightening the noose, there is a possibility that his brother-in-law (Robert Vadra) might get into trouble. Even his mother (Sonia Gandhi) might get into trouble,” he added.
The government and the opposition are locking horns over the alleged fraud of over Rs 11,000 crore in PNB, ever since the scam surfaced.
In the latest development, beleaguered businessman Nirav Modi, the alleged kingpin of the largest banking scam in the country's history, has supposedly said PNB's ‘over-zealousness' shut the doors on his ability to clear the dues.
In a letter Modi wrote on 15/16 February to the Punjab National Bank management – a copy of which PTI has seen – he pegged the money his companies owe to the bank under Rs 5,000 crore. The authenticity of this letter is, however, yet to be verified.
"The erroneously cited liability resulted in a media frenzy which led to immediate search and seizure of operations, and which in turn resulted in Firestar International and Firestar Diamond International effectively ceasing to be going-concerns. This thereby jeopardised our ability to discharge the dues of the group to the banks," Modi wrote in the letter.
(With inputs from PTI)
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