Nirav Modi's letter smacks of arrogance, what will government do, asks Congress

The Congress on Tuesday said the purported letter written by jeweller Nirav Modi, who is allegedly involved in Rs 11,300 crore PNB scam, smacks of arrogance and asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley that if the letter is authentic, what action would be taken against him.

It also asked if the government knew the whereabouts of Nirav Modi.

Claiming that banking sector is in serious trouble, the party also asked the Prime Minister and Finance Minister to direct all public and private sector banks to make all details about NPAs and bank frauds public.

"Nirav Modi has written a letter. If you analyse the letter, you will see it smacks of arrogance. Only that person can write such a letter who knows he will not face any consequences because of this. He knows people who are in power will always protect him," said Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari.

"Otherwise a person on whom there are serious allegations of indulging in a fraud of Rs 11,000 crore, can't write such an arrogant letter," he added.

Reading out portions of the letter, he said that Nirav Modi says that the seized assets "could have settled the amounts due to banks" but "now that stage appears to have passed and there is general panic..."

"...in the anxiety to recover your dues immediately despite my offer, your actions have destroyed my brand and the business and I have now restricted your ability to recover the dues leaving a trail of unpaid debts. Whatever may be the consequences, I may face for my actions, the haste was in my submission unwarranted," the letter states.

Tewari says: "This clearly means that he is saying that he is not going to return the money. It further says that 'as far as I am concerned you can go and climb a tall tree but you are not going to get your money.'

"We want to ask the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister if this letter is authentic, then what action are you going to take..."

The party further asked if the government knew the location or the whereabouts of Nirav Modi. "Is he in the US or in Belgium, in France, or is he in Hong Kong? Where is this gentleman who is writing these letters?" asked Tewari.

"This doesn't end here. There are also cases of Rotomac. Loans have been taken from banks in that case too and the amount is increasing each day. It all started in 2015," Tewari said.

Tewari also expressed concern over the conditions of the banks in the country. "Are there more scams happening in the public banks," he asked, adding that "nothing short of a full disclosure, a full and a complete disclosure, will now satisfy this country".

--IANS

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