AAP accuses Ashish Shelar of money laundering, he rebutts
Stating that he started a company that had no revenue, business or transaction but whose shares were sold at premium, Menon alleged that Shelar had the same modus operandi as Chhagan Bhujbal.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in several complaint letters written to various authorities, including the chief minister and governor, accused and alleged that BJP city president Ashish Shelar had done "money laundering". The party addressed a press conference chaired by Preeti Sharma Menon, its national spokesperson.
The party also made complaints with the Lokayukta, anti-corruption bureau, election commission, economic offences wing, and enforcement directorate among others. Alleging that Shelar had hid details of his being part of companies from the Election Commission, she demanded probe from all of them.
Stating that he started a company that had no revenue, business or transaction but whose shares were sold at premium, Menon alleged that Shelar had the same modus operandi as Chhagan Bhujbal.
"This was exactly the same modus operandi used by Chhagan Bhujbal — AAP gave the authorities one such lead of high value shares coming through the Kolkatta model of benami companies into a company with no turnover and no operations — the Enforcement Directorate had stated in court that their investigation showed that the money laundering figure was more than Rs800 crore. We are certain that this lead given by us will unfold in a similar manner if investigated thoroughly," alleged Menon in letters to the chief minister and other authorities.
Shelar's press conference to rebut Menon's allegation happened minutes after AAP. The intimation of it, however, came before it. "These allegations have been doing rounds for a while now. In fact, it gave me an opportunity to clarify them," said Shelar. He added, "People who are leveling allegations that are not true do not have enough knowledge of election affidavit or loan procedures. There is a column of other where I need not mention in detail about me being director. All the loans were personal."
He added, "I expect them to withdraw all the allegations and welcome any inquiry into all the allegations levelled against me. Taking big names like Chhagan Bhujbal, Enforcement Directorate makes for big news but they are false."
The governor's office said that they had received a complaint on Wednesday and will able to give any reply tomorrow. Chief minister did not reply to message from dna.