The Congress Monday accused the Modi government of conniving with fraudsters who had escaped the country and claimed "conflict of interest" to demand the sacking of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, saying his daughter and son-in-law, both lawyers, allegedly received a retainership of Rs 24 lakh from fugitive Mehul Choksi.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi alleged Jaitley's daughter was "on the payroll" of Choksi, the main accused in the multi-crore PNB fraud case.
Separately, addressing a joint press conference with party colleagues Rajiv Satav and Sushmita Dev, Congress leader Sachin Pilot claimed that in the 44 months till January 2018, the Modi government witnessed an unprecedented 19,000 'bank fraud cases' involving Rs 90,000 crore.
He said 23 fraudsters escaped India under the government's watch after duping the country of over Rs 53,000 crore.
On Twitter, Gandhi alleged that Jaitley "sat on the file and allowed him (Choksi) to flee". The Congress chief claimed that the media had "blacked out" the story but the people of the country would not.
He gave an ICICI bank account number from which money was allegedly transferred to Jaitley's daughter.
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"Arun Jaitlie's daughter was on the payroll of thief Mehul Choksi. Meanwhile her FM daddy sat on his file and allowed him to flee (sic).
"She received money....
"It's sad that media has blacked out this story. The people of India won't," he tweeted, using the hashtag 'ArunJaitlieMustResign'.
The Congress has alleged that Jaitley's daughter and son-in-law, both lawyers, allegedly received a retainership of Rs 24 lakh from Choksi.
However, Jaitley's son-in-law had issued a statement stating that his law firm had returned the retainership the moment they came to know that the company was involved in a scam.
Pilot said that this government came to power 4.5 years ago and made tall claims and tried to spread misinformation.
"But the fact is that the country's prime minister and finance minister and its entire structure is working to protect economic terrorists. This government provides protection to absconders and provides them safe passage," he alleged.
"The three Cs collusion, connivance and conflict of interest of the finance minister with Mehul Choksi now stands exposed," he said.
He wondered how those who defrauded the banks and the country have fled so easily and said the facts that have come out on who helped them escape, this government has no answers.
"Why were fraudsters allowed to flee the country when agencies were on red alert and when the prime minister and the finance minister were aware of the goings on," he asked.
"These are the people who were officially helping the fraudsters, legally safeguarding them and politically protecting them to help them escape and run away," said Pilot, demanding that both the prime minister and the finance minister speak up on the issue.
Sushmita Dev said there is very old saying that 'Ceaser's wife must be above suspicion' and in this case, there are three people who are in the "position of Ceaser's wife Shri Arun Jaitley Ji, his son-in-law Jaiyesh, who is a partner in Jaitley & Associates, and his own daughter Sonali".
"We request Shri Arun Jaitley and Prime Minister Shri Modi to come clean. You promised the nation a 'zero tolerance' for corruption, you promised the people that you are their watchman. Finance Minister has consistently taken a high moral ground. Now we want to see as to what bluff is he going to put forward in his blog to protect his own 'Damaad', his own 'Beti' and his own 'Karobar'," she asked.
"Successive escapes of Vijay Mallya, Lalit Modi, Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and others reflect that Modi government is not a guardian of 'public money' but a 'travel agency' facilitating 'fraud, fleece and fly to foreign shores' of willful bank defaulters," the three leaders said in a statement.
"Arun Jaitley, being Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs, his daughter Sonali Jaitley and son-in-law Jaiyesh Bakhshi proceeded to accept a retainership of Rs 24 lakh from Mehul Choksi's fraudster company Gitanjali Gems Ltd in December 2017," Pilot alleged.
"Is this not a clear-cut case of Collusion, Connivance and Conflict of Interest on part of FM Arun Jaitley? Why were FM Jaitley, his daughter and son-in-law neither summoned nor questioned by CBI/ED/SFIO," the leaders asked in the statement.
"Is it not a fit case to sack Shri Arun Jaitley and conduct a full independent investigation?" they added.
Pilot and the other leaders also sought to know why no action was taken against Mehul Choksi, Nirav Modi, Gitanjali Gems Ltd and others, despite FIRs and multiple complaints.
"Who protected them?" they asked.
Addressing the press conference, the Congress leaders said the Modi government was more loyal to "conmen" than to the common man as "it not only helped them escape the country after defrauding banks worth crores, but also provided them protection and legal protection".