I-T dept unleashing malicious campaign to harass me: Amarinder

Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh today accused the Income Tax department of unleashing a 'malicious campaign' to harass him at the behest of its boss and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley by doing selective leaks with the intent of maligning him.
Defending his replies to the IT queries, he said he was within his legal rights to defend himself and give the replies in his defence.
He said how he could reply to certain queries which were related to particular documents that were not in his possession and the IT was still trying to make hue and cry.
"The IT authorities are deliberately putting up certain queries knowing well that the documents related to these were not in my possession," he said in a statement, adding, "how can I reply to queries when I am not in possession of the documents."

He said, "My replies framed in legal parlance were being selectively leaked out of context to the media to create deliberate confusion."
The former Punjab chief minister said, "I have said it time and again that I have nothing to hide and would voluntarily face and fully cooperate in every lawful investigation conducted by a lawful authority."

"However, it is now apparent that this is not a bona fide lawful investigation but is a mala fide enquiry being guided and controlled by the central government at the obvious behest of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley," he alleged.
Amarinder said some of the queries have been deliberately framed in a form and manner to harass him and are beyond any logical answer.

"The legal replies and documentation in an ongoing investigation are being distributed to members of the press allowing for verbatim quotations from such letters of shows how this investigation is being guided and controlled, in such a systematic manner by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley," he said.
Amarinder's son Raninder has been issued fresh summons to appear before ED in Punjab in connection with its probe against him for alleged forex contraventions and holding of untaxed foreign assets.
Raninder has been asked to appear before the investigating officer in the case on July 14 at the ED zonal office in Jalandhar. He has also been asked to bring personal financial documents with him, sources said.

This is the second summons to Raninder after he had sought exemption from personal appearance last month, citing health reasons. Raninder has been summoned to explain the alleged movement of funds to Switzerland and creation of a trust and a few subsidiaries in the tax haven of British Virgin Islands.