‘Jay Shah first son of India’: Congress alleges new scam

Aditi Tandon 
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, August 11

The Congress on Saturday said it would soon move the Election Commission against BJP president Amit Shah who allegedly had concealed his liabilities in the affidavit filed at the time of election to Rajya Sabha in July 2017.

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Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, describing Shah’s son Jay Shah as the “first son of India”, on Saturday alleged that the latter’s new Kusum Fin Service, a financial firm, was involved in dubious transactions and was being favoured for loans by cooperative and private banks even when its net worth was just Rs 6 crore.

“A company with Rs 6 crore net worth has got loans worth Rs 95 crore from banks, including a bank where Amit Shah’s friend and Gujarat minister Nitin Patel is a member. The loans have been given against mortgages of two pieces of land owned in Ahmedabad by Amit Shah. Our question is why this liability was not disclosed in the election affidavit of Amit Shah. This concealment is unlawful and we will petition the EC for action,” Ramesh said.

The Congress also questioned why the Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation gave a land worth Rs 6 crore on lease to Jay Shah who within a month got a private bank loan of Rs 17 crore against that lease.

Jay Shah’s company had no assets or inventory but still got a land on lease was the Congress’s refrain.

As per the companies law, any company needs to file an annual report but Finservice has not filed any for 2016-17, Ramesh said.

The Congress also asked how the Indian Renewable Energy Development Authority extended a loan of Rs 10.5 crore to Jay Shah’s firm when under its own rules the authority could not extend loans beyond Rs 5 crore to any one individual.

“We need answers. Earlier, Jay Shah’s Temple Enterprises was involved in dubious dealings until it closed down. This is episode 2 of the Shah saga,” Ramesh said.