Amit Shah’s son’s ₹6 crore company got credit facility worth ₹97 crore, says Congress

Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh at a press conference in Delhi on Saturday, August 11 accused BJP National President Amit Shah of omitting certain financial liabilities from his Rajya Sabha election affidavit, and said the Congress party would ask the Election Commission to cancel Shah’s Rajya Sabha membership. Shah was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Gujarat in August, 2017.

Showing documents to the media, Ramesh said that Amit Shah’s son Jay Amit Shah’s company Kusum Finserve LLP, whose net worth is less than ₹6 crore, had been given credit facilities amounting to ₹97.35 crore in five tranches from two cooperative banks and one government undertaking. Thus, the credit extended to Kusum Finserve has gone up by nearly 300% in one year, claimed Ramesh.

To secure this credit from the cooperative banks, Jay Amit Shah had mortgaged properties registered in his father Amit Shah’s name, alleged Ramesh. Yet, said Ramesh, when the BJP President filed his election affidavit for Rajya Sabha poll in 2017, he omitted stating these liabilities.

Interestingly, Kalupur Cooperative Bank, one of the banks which so generously extended credit to Jay Amit Shah’s, company has BJP leader and Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel and wife among the shareholders.

The entire press conference by Jairam Ramesh can be viewed below:

Jay Shah’s Kusum Finserve LLP had not only received “unprecedented” financial credits from these cooperative banks, but also received a loan of ₹10.35 crore from Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Limited (IREDA)—a public sector undertaking managed by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy—for setting up a 2.1 MW wind energy plant in Ratlam district in Madhya Pradesh, despite having no expertise, alleged Congress.

When IREDA had granted loan to Kusum Finserve LLP, Piyush Goyal was the minister. “As per the rules, IREDA cannot grant loan more than ₹5 crore to a company but in Jay Shah’s case, rules were violated by Piyush Goyal himself,” alleged Ramesh.

The senior Congress leader also said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who vowed “Na khaunga, na khane dunga”, should answer how Jay Amit Shah’s company had been given credit facilities worth over ₹97 crore by two cooperative banks and one public undertaking.

When asked whether Congress would register a formal complaint with Election Commission, Ramesh said, “It is against the law. In his 25-page affidavit, Shah mentioned everything but omitted this piece of information, why? The nation wants to know his answer. We will not only register our complaint but will demand for the cancellation of his membership [of Rajya Sabha] also,” he added.

According to the Representation of People’s Act, a candidate contesting for assemblies or Parliament should list their assets and liabilities in an affidavit. Under the act, filing false or incomplete information in an electoral affidavit is liable to be punished with rejection of the nomination.