Congress leader Ahmed Patel has sent a letter to the Enforcement Directorate and has used ‘corona’ as an excuse to evade questioning by the Enforcement Directorate in the over Rs 14,000 crore Sandesara scam. A day before Ahmed Patel was to appear before the ED, Congress leader wrote to ED and has cited the pandemic saying: ‘above 65, please excuse now’. He told ED that as per Covid-19 guidelines he need to stay indoors.
#Breaking 1st on TIMES NOW | Day before @ahmedpatel’s @dir_ED appearance over Sandesara scam, he cites ‘Corona’ to avoid saying ‘above 65, please excuse now’.
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) June 8, 2020
ED responds with new dates saying ‘will come home to question’. pic.twitter.com/72U7gDgq2M
Essentially, the Congress leader uses his age as an excuse to evade questioning. Putting himself in the senior citizen’s bracket whom the pathogen puts at higher risk due to their weaker immune systems he asks the Enforcement Directorate to consider revoking the summon due to be held tomorrow.
The Enforcement Directorate has, however, responded with new dates saying ‘will come home to question’. They have informed Patel that they would go to his residence to question him either this week or next week.
Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate has confirmed on Monday, that Ahmed Patel’s son – Faisel Patel and his son-in-law – Irfan Siddiqui have confessed that they knew Chetan Sandesara – younger brother of the Sterling Biotech Ltd Director – Nitin Sandesara.
Ahmed Patel’s alleged connection with the Sandesara case
The proof of Congress leader Ahmed Patel’s connection to the Sandesara case had allegedly emerged last year. The sources had said that witnesses in the case named Ahmed Patel, his son Faisal Patel and his son-in-law Irfan Siddique in the investigation by the Enforcement Directorate. The sources have said that Ahmed Patel’s house was named by the witness as the headquarters. They have also, as per sources, said that his son Faisal Patel and son-in-law Irfan Ahmed Siddique received money from Sandesara.
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.
Congress leader has used health issues as an excuse earlier to evade questioning
Nevertheless, making excuses like this to evade summons has emerged as a regular pattern with the Congress leader. Last year too, when Ahmed Patel was summoned for questioning by the Income Tax Department in connection with the investigation into the case of hawala and cash transactions worth Rs 400 crore reaching the Congress party office, the senior Congress leader did not appear for questioning claiming that he was unwell. He had then complained about breathing distress and got himself admitted to the Metro Hospital in Faridabad, Haryana.
As per reports, Patel was summoned as the treasurer of the All India Congress Committee.
Ahmed Patel involved in various other controversies
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.
