The Congress has released documents claiming that Rs 24 lakh was returned to PNB scam accused Mehul Choksi by the law firm of finance minister Arun Jaitley’s daughter and son-in-law on February 20 this year.

It was already known that Choksi had retained the law firm in December 2017 and that the lawyers had cancelled the legal mandate and returned the money after the scandal spilled out in January-February this year.

But what was not explicitly clear or well known till now was the exact amount re-deposited and the specific date on which the money was returned to Choksi’s Gitanjali Gems.

If February 20 — the purported date on the bank document released by the Congress — is the correct date, it would mean that the money was returned when the scandal was raging at full throttle and well after Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi had fled the country having allegedly defrauded PNB out of more than Rs 12,000 crore.

There is nothing wrong in a law firm accepting Choksi as a client as everyone has a right to legal advice and defence.

But the purported date has prompted Congress leaders to ask an ethical question: shouldn’t the law firm of the finance minister’s relatives have declared the amount before re-depositing it so that the investigating agencies would have had a chance to deliberate whether they should seize it?

It is not clear whether this amount was among the assets that were eventually frozen and seized by the agencies. Even if that is the case, the ethical question of whether the law enforcement agencies were informed remains.

The Telegraph could not obtain a response from the law firm of Sonali Jaitley and Jaiyesh Bakshi despite multiple attempts on Monday. No response could be elicited from Arun Jaitley, either.

On March 11 — nearly three weeks after the money was purportedly deposited with the account of Choksi — The Wire had reported that the Chambers of Jaitley and Bakshi had told the portal in a reply to a questionnaire that “we were retained by M/s Gitanjali Gems Limited in the month of December 2017. We have rendered no legal service under the retainership agreement since no work was assigned to us.”

The portal had quoted the law firm as adding then: “When the news item started appearing ‘and this is after 31st January 2018’ about the company’s involvement in the banking scam, we immediately unilaterally cancelled the Legal Mandate and refunded the entire retainership amount. The same was refunded through the banking channels.

“Since the above information clearly indicates no wrongdoing or impropriety on behalf our law firm whatsoever, we hope you will accurately reproduce our version, without any improper slant or bias.”

The reported reply did not mention either the amount or the specific date when the money was returned but said the mandate was cancelled and the money refunded “immediately” when the news item started appearing.

The PNB scam and the Nirav-Choksi link became public on February 14 although the CBI had registered an FIR on January 31 and the duo had fled India in the first week of the new year.

If the Congress claim is correct, it would appear that the law firm waited at least five days till February 20, with a weekend holiday in between, to redeposit the Rs 24 lakh.

By then, “NiMo” (Nirav Modi) and his uncle had become household names in India, and Nirav’s picture with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Davos on January 23 had been viewed by millions.

A Congress statement asked: “They (the law firm) received Rs 24 lakh in December 2017. Choksi fled in January 2018. The controversy erupted and the money was returned in February 2018…. Why were Jaitley, his daughter and son-in-law neither summoned nor questioned” by the CBI, the Enforcement Directorate and the Serious Fraud Investigation Office?

The Opposition party added: “Why did they hide it? Is it not a fit case to sack Jaitley and conduct a full independent investigation?”

Congress leaders Sachin Pilot, Rajeev Satav and Sushmita Dev told a media conference that “collusion and conflict of interest” marked the story of Choksi’s escape, which happened despite specific alerts about the possibility of his fleeing India.

BJP spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi sidestepped a query on the subject at a media briefing, contending that the need of the hour was to question the Congress on the sexual abuse charges against two of its leaders in Kerala.

A BJP spokesperson who did not wish to be identified said: “The law firm had issued a statement earlier. The Congress recycles old charges. Law firms take retainer fee from clients. As Jaitley’s daughter didn’t work for Choksi, they returned the fee. What is the issue here?”

BJP Rajya Sabha member Subramanian Swamy, seen as an intra-party opponent of Jaitley, re-tweeted the Congress charge while most other BJP leaders were silent.