New Delhi, 29 March 2024;
Former Union Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel, who was embroiled in the aircraft lease scam has now been declared clean after being washed in the Bharatiya Janata Party’s washing machine. Just in July 2023, Praful Patel, along with the Ajit Pawar faction, separated from the NCP and joined the Maharashtra government in alliance with the BJP and only after 8 months, in March 2024, the BJP’s CBI closed the entire case by filing a closure report in the court, said Senior AAP Leader Shri Jasmine Shah.
Addressing media persons here today, Shri Jasmine Shah stated that the people of the country have seen how the BJP has invented the world’s largest and the most effective washing machine. This machine is a political washing machine. You put owners of big companies in this washing machine, put liquor businessmen like Sarath Chandra Reddy in it, and what do you get out of it? False statements and donations to the BJP.
“Donations amounting to Rs 55 crore were recovered from Sarath Chandra Reddy after the investigation of ED and CBI. On the other side, there are many disgraced leaders across the country, against whom serious charges have been levelled, whose properties have been seized, multiple cases are ongoing against them, even terrorism charges have been levelled against some of them. The BJP is taking such people on its side by stopping the investigation of ED and CBI, and then giving them a clean chit,” he said.
Shri Jasmine Shah further enunciated, “In this series, yesterday it was revealed through the media how the senior NCP (Nationalist Congress Party) leader Shri Praful Patel, who had also served as the Union Civil Aviation Minister during the UPA. Praful Patel, who is an accused in multiple cases by the ED and CBI, has been given clean chit in a case by Shri Modi’s CBI. That means the case has been closed. When you find out what this case was, why he was made an accused in this, why the investigation has been going on for so many years, and how he has been given a clean chit, you will that this is an open and shut case of corruption.
Sharing the details of the case, the AAP leader stated that the case goes back to 2007, when the merger between Air India and Indian Airlines took place under the then Civil Aviation minister Praful Patel. “When the merger happened, Air India and Indian Airlines barely had any passengers, their flights were mostly empty. At that time, the Civil Aviation Ministry, under the ministership of Shri Praful Patel, took a decision to take 15 aircraft from national and international private parties on lease and run them.”
“What happened was that they made a lease agreement which could not be terminated. They leased 15 aircraft but did not decide the routes for which these aircraft will be used, they did not even finalize the pilots or the crew for the flight, nothing at all. All these 15 aircraft were just standing idle for 5 years, they were barely used. This is not my data; this is clearly mentioned in the CBI’s FIR and the CAG’s report before that. They reported how this was all a big scam. They were barely having any passengers in their existing flights, where would they get more passengers from? How would they operate these additional flights if they were struggling to operate the existing fleet? They did not even hire any pilot; the aircraft were kept in the hangar for years.”
Shri Jasmine Shah said it was estimated that this fraud led to a whopping loss of Rs 840 crore to the government exchequer. Public money was squandered to benefit some private companies which leased these aircraft to the government, he added.
He further said that another thing that came to light was they were not only taking on lease some aircraft but also planning to purchase some. Their business was already heading south, they barely had any passengers for their existing fleet. They had even ordered purchase of new aircraft. If the country is wondering who is responsible for the doom of Air India, it was none other than the government and such ministers, who spent huge funds of the public on these aircraft without comprehensive planning.
“The CBI has also mentioned in their report that there were various middlemen involved in this scam. One such middleman was Deepak Talwar, who is mentioned as a ’dear friend’ of Praful Patel in ED’s charge sheet. He was the one who planned all the transaction arrangements between the Aviation Ministry and the private companies,” he said.
The AAP senior leader said the CBI registered a case in May 2017, followed by another case by the ED for money laundering. In June 2019, Praful Patel was summoned for the first time by the ED in this case. Right after this, he was summoned by the CBI in August 2019. Nothing happens after this for a while since the discussions between NCP Ajit Pawar faction and the BJP were in progress. Finally in July 2019, when Ajit Pawar faction separated from the NCP and formed alliance with the BJP, there was absolutely no action in this case, no summons is served to Praful Patel in this matter. Now in March 2024, it has been reported that the case has been dismissed and the CBI has filed a closure report of this case.
Accusing Praful Patel of having connection with the underworld gang that was involved in the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts, Shri Jasmine Shah said, “This was not the only case against Praful Patel. Another accusation against him, which is way more serious, is his connection with people from the underworld gangs of Mumbai who had a role in the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts. The ED has been investigating him for years in this matter. In October 2019, ED had summoned Praful Patel in this matter. He had skipped three summonses from the ED. After he skipped three summonses from the ED, the agency started attaching his properties in the said case. In July 2022, some of his properties were attached in this case and then again in February 2023, more properties were attached in the same case. This means that the investigation was in full swing, summonses were sent, and properties were attached but Praful Patel was still not responding.”
The AAP senior leader continued that what happened after this is that the Ajit Pawar’s faction separated from the NCP and formed alliance with the BJP in July 223. “After this alliance, no summonses were sent, no properties were attached, no charge sheet was filed, the entire case is put to rest,” he said.
He said so this is not the only case, everyday a new minister is put in BJP’s big washing machine, and they come out all clean, ready to support the BJP.
Shri Jasmine Shah said another incident that came to light a few months back was of NCP’s another senior leader, Shri Chhagan Bhujbal, who was accused by the BJP’s ED and CBI only. When his bail application reached the Mumbai High Court, what did the ED say? The ED said that they have lost the file. Now that file has been lost, the ED could not object his bail, so he should be granted bail. This is a joke of the ED and the CBI in front of the nation.
Condemning the ED, Shri Jasmine Shah stated how the probe agency has been running fabricated cases against the Aam Aadmi Party since the last two years, serving summonses after summonses. They put four of our senior leaders in jail even though a single penny or evidence has been recovered in the case so far. They arrest Shri Arvind Kejriwal based on the testimony of their washing machine’s product, Sarath Chandra Reddy. They have arrested the CM on the statement of a person who has given them Rs 55 crore post his arrest and still they claim that the ED is conducting a fair investigation.
Shri Jasmine Shah said, “The BJP first makes serious allegations against people but gives them a clean chit as soon as they join their party. Once they join your (BJP) alliance, all the cases get dismissed. The way the BJP has politicised the ED and the CBI, the entire country is watching. The whole country is ashamed of how these big investigative agencies whose main work is to thoroughly investigate cases against the conspirators, terrorists, people involved in narcotics trade and corruption scams, are acting like political agencies. The nation is watching how the ED and CBI are still not taking any action even though so much of evidence has been produced, including through the CAG report. I believe the public is watching and they will give their mandate in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.”
