Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel was summoned for questioning by the Income Tax Department on Tuesday, as per reports. The summon were issued under section 131 of the IT Act. He was summoned in connection with the investigation into the case of hawala and cash transactions worth Rs. 400 crore reaching the Congress party office.
As per reports, the summons was issued on the 11th of February and Ahmed Patel was due to appear before the investigative agency on the 14th of February. However, the senior Congress leader did not appear for questioning claiming that he was unwell and admitted to the Metro Hospital in Faridabad, Haryana. He has reportedly told the IT Department that he is suffering from breathing problems. As per reports, fresh summons will be issued soon.
As per reports, Patel was summoned as the treasurer of the All India Congress Committee.
Ahmed Patel is mired in controversies and is being investigated in connection with other irregularities as well. In April 2019, after raids at the locations of the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister’s OSD, it was reported that Rs. 20 crore had been transferred to the head office of a major political party located at Tughlaq Road in Delhi, which was moved through a senior party functionary. Although the department didn’t name the political party and the functionary, it was reported that the residence of SM Moin in Delhi, who is a senior functionary of Congress, was raided by the Income Tax department. Ahmed Patel had rushed to the residence of Moin in Delhi when I-T officers were conducting search operations there.
Ahmed Patel’s name had popped up during the investigation of the UPA-era August Westland Scam. One diary recovered from middleman Michel had some notes which reportedly indicate recipients of the bribe paid to secure the deal. There were references to “AP”, “FAM”, “Pol”, “Bur”, “DG Acq”, “AF” etc under the heading “budget expenditure items” in the diary, allegedly a note of people who were paid bribes. After Agusta middleman Christian Micheal was extradited to India, during custody, he made many explosive confessions to ED. In of the confession, he identified the notings in the diary and said that the AP refers to Ahmed Patel.
In August last year, the Enforcement Directorate had summoned Faisal Patel, son of Ahmed Patel, in the Sterling Biotech money laundering case. Faisal Patel is being probed by the ED for his links with the Sandesara brothers, the owners of the pharmaceutical company, who are accused in a ₹5,000 crore fraud case.
