New Delhi: The BJP on Friday latched onto a letter by a former Allahabad Bank director to term the Punjab National Bank fraud case as yet another "UPA scam" that had been unearthed because of the "alertness" of the banking system introduced by the Narendra Modi government.
The BJP also sought to claim innocence by saying it was a "banking scam" and not a "government scam".
After law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, the party on Friday fielded human resource development minister Prakash Javadekar, who kept on saying "UPA scam" and gave credit to the Modi government for "exposing" the fraud involving diamantaire Nirav Modi.
"This scam happened during the UPA's time. It is yet another UPA scam. This came to light because of the alertness and strengthening of the banking system by the Modi government," Javadekar said.
Prasad too had on Thursday pointed fingers at the erstwhile Congress-led UPA government and claimed the Rs 11,000-crore scam began in 2011.
Javadekar said this case could not be compared with the 2G, coal, Commonwealth Games scandals during UPA rule.
"This is a banking scam and not a government scam. There is no government role in this," he said. According to the minister, the fraud took place because the UPA government had "destroyed the banking system".
To support his claim of a "UPA scam", Javadekar quoted a 2013 letter of one Dinesh Dubey, then director of Allahabad Bank. He said that on two occasions on September 14 and September 27, Dubey had complained to the Reserve Bank and the then finance secretary against the granting of loans to Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi.
"On September 13, 2013, Rahul Gandhi attended a Bridal jewellery exhibition of Nirav Modi and on September 14 the Allahabad Bank board approved a Rs 1,550-crore loan to Mehul Choksi and Nirav Modi, overruling whistleblower Dinesh Dubey's dissent," Javadekar said, added that the then finance secretary had pressurised Dubey to resign.
"What is the connection between Rahul Gandhi's visit to Nirav Modi's exhibition and the grant of the loan?
"Whose pressure was on the then finance secretary?" Javadekar asked and demanded an answer from the Congress.
Told that the FIR filed by the CBI showed that the PNB loans were taken on February 17 this year, Javadekar said it was the old letters of understanding issued during the UPA regime that had been renewed.
"The LoUs were renewed every year. Punjab National Bank adopted the banking systems introduced by the Modi government in 2017 and in 2018, the fraud was busted," he said.
When reporters pointed out that another whistleblower, Hari Prasad, had complained to the Prime Minister's Office against Choksi in 2016, Javadekar said: "It was about a commercial dispute between Mehul Choksi and him (Hari Prasad). It nowhere mentioned anything about the PNB fraud involving Nirav Modi."
