In a potentially far-reaching development, implicating the Congress top leadership of covertly extending support to declared fugitive economic offender Nirav Modi, Abhay Thipsay, a former Bombay and Allahabad High Court Judge and Congress leader has now testified in favour of Nirav Modi in front of a London Court.
Abhay Thipsay, a former Judge with explicit political inclinations clouding his judgments during his active career as a jurist joined the Congress party in 2018. He is known to be a close confidant of former, and presumably future Congress President, Rahul Gandhi.
Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad claimed that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi of attending a function of Nirav Modi on September 13, 2013 after which, he added, the firms of the absconding businessman were lent loans by banks.
Thipsay, appearing as an expert witness for Nirav Modi (voluntarily so), argued that the charges slapped by the CBI and ED against the fugitive would hold no water in Indian courts. He is said to have reportedly told the London Court, via a video link, that certain statements of the police, as well as the definition of ‘deception’ will be “inadmissible” in Indian courts.
“Unless someone is deceived, there can be no cheating under Indian law. Deception is an essential ingredient of an offence of cheating. If no one was deceived in issuing LoUs (letters of undertaking), there is no question of a corporate body being deceived. The authority given to officials of the bank to issue LoUs cannot be said to be property and they cannot be said to be entrusted with property and therefore there cannot be a criminal breach of trust,” Times of India quoted the jurist-turned-politician as saying.
Nirav Modi had fled India in early 2018, after his role in the Rs 13,500-crore Punjab National Bank scam came to the fore in 2017. He had done so by fraudulently obtaining LoUs from PNB, and then laundering the proceeds using multiple dummy companies based out of India. The charges filed against Modi include those of criminal conspiracy, cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property.
Ironically, the same Congress party, whose member has now been exposed trying his best to save the absconding fugitive, has been hounding the Modi government for ‘helping’ Nirav Modi escape. They have further, from time to time, alleged that Nirav Modi and the Prime Minister, in fact, share cordial relations, which they have tried to prove using a photograph in which the two are seen sharing the frame, along with a multitude of other Industrialists. PM Modi wouldn’t even have been aware of the presence of Nirav Modi in the photograph. Yet, Rahul Gandhi has repeatedly insinuated that the BJP government extended its support to Nirav Modi in defrauding a National bank, and then fleeing the country.
Rahul Gandhi had gone to the extent of suggesting that all those who loot India somehow have the surname ‘Modi’ attached to their name. Now that we know that a close confidant of the prince is pulling all strings he can to save Nirav Modi, will Rahul Gandhi retract his baseless claims against the Modi government?
Read: Shehzad Poonawalla reveals shocking details about Rahul Gandhi-Nirav Modi nexus
Read: Fugitive Economic Offenders Ordinance is PM Modi’s answer to likes of Nirav, Mallya and Lalit.
Why is the Congress trying to shield Nirav Modi using its members who could substantially influence the prospects of the fugitive not being extradited to India? What does the Congress party have to lose if he is brought back to India? While on one side the Congress has consistently politicized the Nirav Modi matter to attack the BJP government, they are now desperately trying to save him from the law. The Congress has been caught red-handed once again, and there is no saving them from the public embarrassment for it henceforth.