Senior Congress leader and Sonia Gandhi’s loyalist, Ahmed Patel has landed in fresh trouble even as the Income Tax Department has reportedly issued summons to the senior party leader in a Rs. 400 crore Hawala transaction.
Patel happens to be the treasurer of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) and the summons issued by the Income Tax Department pertained to the same role. The Department is investigating Hawala and cash transaction worth Rs. 400 crore reaching the grand old party.
According to a CNBC TV18 report, the Income Tax Department had issued summons under Section 131 of the Income Tax Act to the Congress leader for questioning on February 11. He was supposed to appear before the Department for questioning on February 14. However, he did not appear on the ground of being unwell and admitted to a hospital in Faridabad.
Now, CNBC TV18 has stated that according to anonymous sources. The IT Department will issue fresh summons shortly. This means fresh trouble for the Gandhi loyalist and also the Congress party as the case mainly relates to his role as an office bearer in the grand old party.
Earlier, the Congress had faced similar trouble in December last year when the Income Tax Department had issued a notice to the grand old party over receiving funds to the tune of Rs. 170 crore from a Hyderabad based firm as a part of the Department’s probe into Rs. 3,300 crore hawala racket case.
Patel, the Treasurer of All India Congress Committee (AICC), has himself been facing a lot of trouble over financial impropriety and murky transactions. His name had also surfaced in the ED probe into the Sterling Biotech case.
The Enforcement Directorate had told a Delhi court that it had evidence of alleged bribe of Rs 25 lakh being delivered at the residence of the senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha Member, Ahmed Patel.
The enforcement agency had maintained that it had recorded the statement of one Rakesh Chandra who said that he worked as a cash courier for Ranjit Malik. Rakesh Chandra had also spoken about delivering 25 lakh cash to 23, Mother Teresa Crescent Road- the official residence of Patel. ED officials had also told the court that along with witness statement, they also had “telephonic chats and financial transactions” as proofs to affirm the charges in the case.
Therefore, Patel who has been facing a lot of trouble in the recent past over murky transactions is bracing up for more trouble, and this time the Congress is set to feel all that more uncomfortable because Income Tax investigations concern his role as the Treasurer of the All India Congress Committee, thus bearing a deep nexus with the grand old party’s functioning.