AAP throws 5 questions at Jaitley on DDCA 'scam'

NEW DELHI: AAP stepped up its attack on finance minister Arun Jaitley on Friday, accusing him of having persuaded ONGC to give Rs 5 crore to Hockey India. The party posed a set of five questions to Jaitley which were related to charges of corruption in Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) and accusations made by BJP MP Kirti Azad. Senior party member Ashutosh called Jaitley “a master of half-truths and beautiful lies”, referring to his defence against AAP’s earlier charges.AAP has claimed that a CBI raid on the CMO on Monday was ordered by the Centre because Jaitley had been implicated in an inquiry in the DDCA case.
Ashutosh cited a letter written by former cricketer Azad addressed to Jaitley on September 13. “Is it not true that you put pressure on ONGC to give Rs 5 crore grant to Hockey India after you took over as the finance minister? Can you give a disclosure that no one in your family has ever benefited from Hockey India?” Azad said.
Rebutting Jaitley’s claim on Thursday that no personal allegation had been made against him, Ashutosh again quoted Azad’s letter. “Illegal corporate boxes were constructed and were sub-leased to 10 corporate houses. A company close to you and your family, 21st Century, was tasked to sell/sub-lease these boxes for 10 years at Rs 36 crore, for which a commission of Rs 5.4 crore was paid to the said company, even when it was commonly known that you had personally spoken with companies like ONGC to get them to illegally sub-lease these boxes, and that 21st Century had very little to do with sub-leasing these boxes.”

On the escalation of costs for renovation of Ferozshah Kotla stadium, the party alleged that only half the sum quoted by Jaitley had actually been paid to PSU EPIL. Refusing Jaitley’s clarification that due to expansion of scope of work, the project had been completed for Rs 114 crore, Ashutosh said, “However, only Rs 57 crore was paid to EPIL and the remaining money was paid to hand picked private companies without any competitive bidding or tenders.”
The fact-finding committee has also reported that a substantial part of this payment was made to nine companies which, AAP alleges, are front companies for DDCA office-bearers. “These companies have the same registered office, same email IDs and common directors. Did the FM not know about this? Is this a procedural lapse or a scam?” said senior AAP member Sanjay Singh.
On Jaitley’s statement that he had been absolved by Serious Fraud Investigation Office which found only procedural lapses in the working of DDCA. “Why did you hide the fact that these irregularities were criminal in intent and punishable with imprisonment under section 209 and 211 of Companies Act 1956,” asked Ashutosh.