Senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Rajya Sabha MP Shri Raghav Chadha has slammed the BJP-led Centre government over its role in providing support to fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi. The MP accused the CBI and ED agencies of shielding corporate friends of the BJP while framing opposition leaders with fake cases. He pointed out that the BJP government failed to submit evidence to Interpol, resulting in the cancellation of the Red Corner Notice against Choksi.
Addressing the media during a press conference on Tuesday, Shri Raghav Chadha said that the Bharatiya Janata Party government is providing red carpet facilities to Mehul Choksi. The entire BJP is engaged in shielding them, he added.
Shri Raghav Chadha bemoaned the functioning of central agencies and said that it is condemnable that ED-CBI of the Central Government failed to furnish proper evidence to Interpol against Mehul Choksi and Nirav Modi, therefore, Interpol cancelled the Red Corner Notice against them. “After all, why does the CBI-ED fail to take strict action against those who commit financial frauds. Why are they protecting them,” he questioned.
The MP raised questions and said that Mehul Choksi also shared a stage with the Prime Minister at the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2018. “This picture was also released by the government. Two days later, Punjab National Bank disclosed that he had embezzled Rs 13,500 crore. However, before filing the FIR against him, the central government colluded with Mehul Choksi and ensured his free passage from India to abroad,” he said.
When he fled to Antigua, the BJP government, instead of taking stern action against him, issued an NOC to get him citizenship of Antigua. On the basis of this certificate, he got citizenship of Antigua. “It is a testament that BJP has hands in glove with Choksi to protect him,” the MP alleged.
He alleged that Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi donated crores in lieu of donations to the BJP. “Choksi has good relations with many big leaders of the BJP. So when Interpol issued a Red Corner Notice and sought evidence against him from the Government of India, the BJP government deliberately did not provide any evidence to Interpol, due to which he is living an opulent lifestyle abroad,” he said.
Shri Raghav Chadha posed several questions to the BJP and asked who informed Mehul Choksi that an inquiry would be initiated against him and he fled the country. “How many crores did Mehul Choksi donate to BJP? Why did the BJP government issue a no objection certificate to Mehul Choksi to take citizenship of another country?” he asked.
He further asked, “what is Mehul Choksi’s relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi? In 2016, a complaint was filed to the Prime Minister’s Office seeking an investigation against Mehul Choksi, so why has the probe not been done yet? Are fugitives like Mehul Choksi, Nirav Modi, Vijay Mallya and Lalit Modi going to join BJP? Because after joining BJP, all corrupt people get a clean chit in all the ongoing cases against them.”
