New Delhi, June 22 (IANS): The Congress on Friday sought “an independent probe” into RTI revelations that Ahmedabad District Cooperative Bank (ADCB) linked to BJP President Amit Shah got deposists of INR 745.59 crore in five days after demonetisation, while terming the currency-scrapping move the “biggest scam in Independent India to convert black money into white”.
The party also demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP chief must come clean on the alleged scam and said the BJP and the RSS should “publicly disclose the properties and their value purchased in the run up to and post-demonetisation, including source of funds.”
The National Bank for Agriculture & Rural Development (NABARD) attributed the highest deposits at ADCB to the latter’s massive size and performance, saying it conducted 100 per cent verification which revealed that the bank had complied with all the KYC guidelines of the RBI while accepting the demonetised notes.
IANS had done a story on Thursday based on a RTI reply which said that a bank with Amit Shah as a director collected the highest amount of banned notes among DCCBs (District Central Cooperative Banks).
Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surejwala said at a press conference that ADCB secured deposits of INR 745.59 crore of the spiked notes -- in just five days (November 10, 2016 to November 14, 2016) after Modi made the demonetisation announcement.
All the district cooperative banks were banned from accepting deposits of banned currency notes after November 14, 2016 -- five days after demonetisation -- on fears that black money would be laundered through this route.
Surjewala however said that states ruled by the BJP and its allies and supporters “got the largest proportion of deposits in the district cooperative banks”, at INR 14,293.71 crore out of INR 22,270.80 crore or 64.18 per cent compared to non-BJP ruled states, and said “an independent probe, targetted and time-bound probe” into the RTI revelations, including those pertaining to 11 Gujarat-based cooperative banks was needed.
Congress President Rahul Gandhi also attacked Shah on the issue.
“Congratulations Amit Shahji, Director, Ahmedabad Dist. Cooperative Bank, on your bank winning first prize in the conversion of old notes to new race. INR 750 crore in five days! Millions of Indians whose lives were destroyed by demonetisation, salute your achievement
Surjewala said that the ADCB was the only district co-operative bank out of 370 across the country to receive such a large sum of demonetised notes in 5 days, adding its chairman Ajay Patel is a prominent BJP leader and a close associate of Amit Shah.
