P Chidambaram's 80:20 gold scheme aided Mehul Choksi: Ravi Shankar Prasad

Finance ministry officials are likely to share all files and notings related to the 80:20 gold import scheme, launched during the UPA rule, with Parliament's Public Accounts Committee within ten days, sources said today.

The move comes after BJP members of the panel alleged that the scheme, which was started during the tenure of Congress leader P Chidambaram as finance minister, was misused by jewellers including fugitive Mehul Choksi for money laundering.

In August 2013, the then UPA government had introduced the 80:20 rule which allowed traders to import gold only after they had exported 20 per cent of gold from their previous import.

The rule was scrapped in November 2014 after the NDA came to power.

"There was a scheme 80:20 introduced in August 2013 and repealed in November 2014. On 16th May, 2014, the date of the declaration of results, the then finance minister gave 'aashirvaad' to seven private companies under 80:20 Scheme. One of those companies was Gitanjali," alleged  Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Monday.

"Chidambaram & Rahul Gandhi must answer why was this passed on the day of results to benefit these seven private companies," Prasad said.

At a meeting of the committee last week, BJP members of the PAC had questioned the role of Chidambaram in implementation of the scheme.

The Revenue Secretary and top officials of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) had appeared before the PAC sub-committee headed by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey.

During the meeting, the members had directed the officials to share all notings related to the scheme with the panel.

All files and notings related to 80:20 gold scheme are likely to be shared within ten days, a source said.

At the meeting, the PAC members discussed a CAG report of 2016 which, they said, pointed out that the scheme resulted in a loss of over Rs 1 lakh crore to the exchequer, a source who was present at the meeting said on the condition of anonymity.

They also raised questions about the role of Chidambaram and said even the CAG report had said to support the earning of one US dollar (around Rs 60 then) for jewellers, the government had to bear the expenditure in the form of duty foregone of Rs 221.75.

The report of the Comptroller and Auditor General clearly indicated that the scheme was used by jewellers including Choksi for "round tripping of black money and money laundering", Dubey had said at the meeting, claiming that it seemed P Chidambaram was aware of this.

Through the process known as round tripping, black money that goes out of the country returns as white money.

The CBI has alleged that Choksi and his jeweller nephew Nirav Modi defrauded the Punjab National Bank of around Rs 126 billion. Both left the country in January.