Former Union finance minister P Chidambaram has said that wrongdoings during the 10 years of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government could not be ruled out.
“During the 10 years of the UPA government, we have done many good things. At the same time, I will not say that no wrongdoing happened. There is only one place where mistakes don’t happen – the place we finally reach,” he said while addressing Indira Gandhi’s birth centenary celebrations organised by the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee in Tuticorin on Saturday evening.
His statement comes a few days after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) raids at his son Karti’s residence and offices in connection with a case, where he is accused of receiving money from INX Media to help evade a tax probe in 2007-08.
The CBI has filed an FIR against Karti, and Peter and Indrani Mukerjeas of INX Media and others on charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating, receiving illegal gratification, influencing public servants and criminal misconduct.
According to the CBI, Karti had allegedly received money from the media firm owned by Indrani and Peter to scuttle a tax probe. Karti has denied this charge.
Chidambaram accused the Centre of trying to silence him, and termed the Modi government as a failure. He said that the Modi government failed to fulfill its promises. He wondered what happened to the promise of depositing Rs 15 lakh in every citizen’s bank account of by bringing back black money.
“Demonetisation was the biggest scam in the last three years. They said that the move will end black money and corruption but Income-Tax Department raids continue to unearth huge amounts of black money. The poor people were severely hit by demonetisation” he said.
Karti, who is now in London, said in a Facebook post said that his only link to INX Media was that his friend was its auditor. “A friend of mine is the auditor of that television company and it is the only connection I have with that firm,” he posted.
Referring to the CBI naming him as an accused in the INX Media case, he said that the CBI had “unnecessarily” included his name.
He asked why officials who raided his premises had “not come out openly about what were seized and what evidences they have.”
“Only if they had got anything would they be able to spell that out,” he said, apparently claiming that no seizure of evidential value was made. Karti also said that he had not received any summons from CBI.
