It was a commercial transaction between two individuals, finance minister says.
AB Wire
WASHINGTON, DC: India’s Finance minister Arun Jaitley, who is on an eight-day visit to the United States, largely refused to wade into a controversy raging back home over the financial and family ties two of his senior party colleagues have with the former Indian Premier League Commissioner Lalit Modi.
Speaking to the media in Washington Saturday afternoon, Jaitley said he did not “want to comment” on Modi.
Opposition and a section of the Indian media have been demanding the resignation of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje because of their close connections to Modi, who has been living in London for the past four years to evade arrest over alleged financial crimes.
It was revealed last week that Swaraj had helped Modi get travel documents last year to accompany his ailing wife, Minal, to Portugal, where she was undergoing treatment. Swaraj’s husband, Swaraj Kaushal, and their daughter Bansuri, both lawyers, had represented Modi.
A secret letter written by Raje, in support of an immigration petition by Modi to remain in the United Kingdom, also came to light last week. Raje was also pilloried over an investment and an unsecured loan, totaling nearly $2 million (110 million Indian rupees), made by Modi in the company run by her son, Dushyant Singh, a BJP member of parliament.
Asked about the transactions, Jaitley said it was “a commercial loan transaction between two individuals” and “a declared loan transaction.”
“How should… the government be concerned with [a] several-year-old loan transaction … which is a commercial loan transaction, by check, with all banking approvals,” he said.
Asked whether India should enact legislation to avoid the kind of conflict of interests, which triggered the current controversy, the minister said, “Parliament has some regulations on [conflict of interests] and they keep reviewing them from time to time.” Queried whether he favored stricter laws, Jaitley said: “This is not the time for me to comment.”