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Jaya Jaitley accuses IT official of demanding bribe to call of search

Onkar Singh In Delhi

Samata Party president Jaya Jaitley Monday accused an official of the Income Tax department of demanding Rs 50,000 in cash to call off the search at her premises in Khirki Extension, near Malviya Nagar in South Delhi, last Thursday.

However, she said she did not know the name of the officer who made the demand and would not complain against him either in writing or verbally.

"You know how these people are," she said while addressing a crowded press conference, at 3 Krishna Menon Marg, which she claimed was called in her personal capacity.

"I want to request the ministers of the Union government not to make statements that would prejudge the investigations. For example, the Minister of State for Finance, Dhanajay Kumar, said soon after the raids had been conducted that they have incriminating evidence against the cricket players and the bookies. The minister says this on the first day itself. While an official of the same ministry told the media that the department of income tax would take at least two months to assess the documents that have been taken away by the department of income tax," she said.

She did not spare Sports Minister Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa either. "Even before the tax raids had been conducted he went to the media and said, 'While a newcomer has Rs 10 crore, senior players had Rs 100 crore or more.' I request these ministers to refrain from making such statements and poisoning the minds of the people against the cricketers," she said.

When asked if she had prevented the income tax team from entering in her house, she replied in the affirmative, saying: "How can I allow someone to enter my house, who wants to shoot my dogs? I thought the dacoits had come to my house with guards."

She denied that she had telephoned Defence Minister George Fernandes while he was on tour in Sierra Leone, and he in turn had called Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha to direct the tax officials to withdraw the search.

"One of the income tax officers called up his boss, Bhaskar Reddy. Reddy spoke to me and said that he was sorry. He asked the officer not to harass us and told me that he would be there in person. He came to my house and I showed him the documents of the imported car that was lying in my house. This car belongs to the Sahara Group, where Ajay Jadeja is employed. While on tour he leaves his car behind for the use of my daughter who works for him. She looks after his business when he is not in town and even she can operate his bank account.

"She is an authorised signatory. I even showed them the golf sticks that were lying in the garage. The only cash that they found was Rs 1,105. That money was spent in organizing lunch for the officials of the income tax department who searched the Jadeja Consultants Private Limited office in Defence Colony. They later cut out the entry of Rs 1,105 from the panchnama when they were told that the money had been spent on their lunch.

"These people are spreading canards about Jadeja," she screamed.

She claimed that some of the officers conducting the search operations asked her daughter Aditi silly questions. "Like does she also travel with Jadeja when he goes abroad? Does she have the permission to travel with him?

"Jadeja gets permission from the BCCI when Aditi accompanies him. Since she is 26, she does not need my permission to go with him. But she invariably tells me what she is doing," claimed Jaitley.

Asked why she was holding a brief for Jadeja, she replied: "I am explaining all these things because the income tax officials came to my house while conducting searches at the house in Jadeja. Since I know the things personally, hence I thought clear up the lies that are being spread by the income tax officials.

"They have claimed that Jadeja has a property in Cyprus. This is not true. A cousin of his, by the name of Ajay Raj Jadeja, left for Cyprus and left some of his documents in Delhi. He works there as a bar tender. But the tax officials took it as Jadeja's property in Cyprus. Likewise, the land in Kerala was bought by his father even before he married is mother. Land and property in Jamnagar belongs to his forefathers. His Greater Kailash property is a small flat which has three small bedrooms in it. Besides, he had bought a flat in Gujarat for his father so that he can live there," said the Samata Party president.

Would you hold a similar brief for other raided players?

"I am not holding a brief for anyone. I am merely telling you the facts," she declared.

Dhanjay Kumar was not immediately available for comment. But senior officials of the Ministry of Finance were amused to hear the claims made by Jaitley, particularly her accusation that a tax official had demanded Rs 50,000 to call off the search?

"This is the kind of money one would pay to even a peon to know a file number," said an official of the ministry before breaking into loud laughter.

Officials of the Finance Ministry accused Jaitley of applying political pressure on the tax officials to call off the search.

"The search could never take off because of her adamant attitude. Throughout our one-and-half hour's presence there she kept threatening us. Time and again she would say, 'Do you know who am I? I am president of the Samata Party," alleged an official of the Income Tax department.

"I did not put any political pressure," explained Jaitley. "When they heard my name they told me that they did not know that I lived there. They were under the impression that the property belongs to Jadeja."

When a scribe asked if Jadeja had earned any money by playing for the country, she replied in the affirmative. The journalist again asked if any property belongs to Jadeja, and whether the cricketer lives below poverty line. To this question Jaitley took personal offence. "I do not like sarcasm in your questions," she replied angrily.

Income tax officials meanwhile say they have managed to track down six of Ajay Jadeja's bank accounts in Delhi itself. "The banks where he has accounts are Grindlay's, Standard Chartered, Hong Kong and Mitsubihshi. The searches in his case could not be completed. So far we have not been able to locate his lockers. We would do so when Jadeja comes back to India," said a top official of the department.