Even as the Congress on Friday described the FIR filed in Uttar Pradesh against Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh for alleged financial fraud as “political vendetta,” the SP general secretary denied the charges and said he would file a defamation case against Chief Minister Mayawati and the State administration.
AICC general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh Digvijay Singh said he was not aware of the details but the case against Mr. Amar Singh had been filed on a private complaint. “On the face of it, it does look like political vendetta. The U.P. administration has been quick in lodging an FIR on receiving the complaint.”
Wondering how the U.P. police could probe the case, he said there was an agency at the Centre to probe money-laundering cases and the case against Mr. Amar Singh should have been referred to this agency.
An FIR was lodged on Thursday at a police station in Kanpur on the complaint of one Shivkant Tripathi, accusing Mr. Amar Singh and his wife of merging companies allegedly owned or run by them for converting black money into white. The name of actor Amitabh Bachchan also figured in the complaint as director of one of the companies.
Mr. Amar Singh said the FIR was an “illegal act” and he would file a defamation case in this regard.
Claiming that the charges would not stick in a court of law, he threw a challenge at Ms. Mayawati to prove that he had assets disproportionate to his personal wealth. “Yes, I am ambitious. I want to amass wealth but through legitimate means. I want to do business, run an industry and be a politician. Mergers and de-mergers are usual and are done through courts. I was only a shareholder and not responsible for the running of the companies, which were listed companies.”
“Thanking” Ms. Mayawati for the “Diwali gift,” he threatened to repay her in kind after the festival of lights and file cases against her in Mumbai, Gurgaon and elsewhere to expose her alleged “ill-gotten wealth and income tax evasions.”
He said there should be a Comptroller and Auditor-General inquiry into the amount of money spent in the construction of the Ambedkar Park in Noida. His charge: just Rs.70 cr. and not Rs.482 cr., as the U.P. administration claimed, was spent and hundreds of trees were felled.
