Ahmedabad, Oct 13 (IANS): Breaking his silence, BJP President Amit Shah on Friday rejected allegations of money laundering against his son Jay, whose company had reportedly recorded an extraordinary spike in business after the BJP came to power at the Centre, and asserted that it had not done any business with the government nor taken any kickbacks.
He also said that unlike the Congress, which had faced many corruption charges in the past, his son has shown courage to file a civil and criminal defamation suit on the allegations levelled against him and "invited a probe against himself" by this step.
"There is no money laundering involved in Jay's company. This company is completely in commodity business, where turnover is more while the profit is less. We have exported bajra, corn and rice while coriander was imported. And after doing a turnover of Rs 80 crore, they don't tell how much they made profit," Amit Shah said at an "India Today" event "Gujarat Panchayat" here.
Answering questions, he said that after making a turnover of Rs 80 crore, Jay made a loss of Rs 1.5 crore. "Where has money laundering been done? All the transactions happened through cheques and banks," he said.
Asked about Jay Shah filing a defamation suit against the publication, Shah said: "Before answering your question I would like to ask you one thing. After Independence, how many corruption charges have been made against the Congress?
"Please understand this is not corruption. Many allegations of corruption were made against the Congress. Did it ever file a civil suit or defamation suit? No. Why they lacked such courage? Today Jay has filed a defamation as well as civil suit and is demanding a probe himself. Those who have the evidence can submit it to the court, and then the court will decide," the BJP President said.
He said: "We have ourselves invited a probe and on the company issue I want to clarify that it has not done business with the government of even Re 1 nor taken any government land or tender. Neither has it received kickbacks as in the case of Bofors."
When asked about Jay's company securing unsecured loans, Shah said it was not unsecured loans. "It was a line of credit," he added.