Sending ED to harass Ahmed Patel; Priyanka Gandhi questions Centre's priorities amid pandemic
Jul 03, 2020
New Delhi [India], July 3 : Questioning the Centre's priorities, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Friday slammed the BJP-led government for "harassing" party leader Ahmed Patel in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A team of the ED had quizzed Patel for over eight hours on Thursday in connection with a money-laundering probe against a Gujarat-based pharmaceutical company Sterling Biotech.
Targeting the BJP, Priyanka today said that crisis unveils the true nature of people.
"Sending the ED to harass Ahmed Patel ji in the middle of the COVID pandemic shows the perversion of this government's priorities. Thousands are dying, our health workers are desperate for supportive measures, the economy is facing an unprecedented crisis," Priyanka tweeted.
"The Chinese are entering our territory, our soldiers are being killed, and this is what the Government is busy spending time on. They say crisis unveils the true nature of people, it appears the saying applies to governments as well," she said in the following tweet.
Congress leader Ahmed Patel had yesterday termed the probe against him in the matter as a 'political vendetta' and informed that he was asked 128 questions based on allegations even though the economic offences watchdog had no underlying proof to substantiate it.
This was the third round of questioning that ED has conducted with Patel pertaining to the bank fraud and money laundering cases.
Patel's name surfaced during the investigation against Sandesara Group of Companies in the alleged bank loan fraud case.
ED investigation had revealed that Sterling Biotech Ltd (SBL) Sandesara Group and its main promoters namely Nitin Sandesara, Chetan Sandesara, and Deepti Sandesara have allegedly cheated more than Rs 14,500 crore.
Apart from Patel, his son, Faisal Patel, and son-in-law Irfan Siddiqui have been named by a corporate executive being questioned by the ED in connection with the case.