Charges defamatory and entirely baseless: Vadra

Robert Vadra,  son-in-law of Congress president Sonia Gandhi,  on Sunday replied to the allegations raised against him by social activist Arvind Kejriwal stating that they were “utterly false” and said that his business transactions were fully reflected in the financial statements filed before appropriate government authorities in compliance with the law.

He further went on to say that the documents are available in the public domain for anybody interested in knowing the truth.

Vadra said that the allegations levelled against him with regards to his transactions with realty major DLF were “defamatory and entirely baseless”.

He said that social activists Arvind Kejriwal and Prashant Bhushan were on the lookout for “cheap publicity” prior to the launch of their political outfit.  “My business transactions are fully reflected in the financial statements filed before appropriate government authorities in compliance with the law. They are available in the public domain to anyone interested in knowing the truth. I am saddened by the attempt of Kejriwal and Bhushan to deliberately misrepresent numbers contained in my financial statements, manufacture lies and malign my family in order to gain cheap publicity for them and for the launch of their political party,” said Vadra in a statement.

In response to Vadra’s statement, Kejriwal said: “Why he (Vadra) did not speak on the specific issues we raised, he is merely questioning the motives. If he tells us specifically how we have misrepresented numbers, we can react. Let them take whatever action they want to take, we are prepared to get sued”

“We live in a democracy, in a democracy if some important question is raised, then the son-in-law of the most powerful family ought to respond. He should respect democracy rather than shooting the messenger, which is not right,” he said.

Kejriwal went on to attack Finance Minister P  Chidambaram saying “It is sad that our country’s Finance Minister says that Robert Vadra’s income tax return is all right. The Income Tax Department is a constitutional body, how can there be direct interference of the Finance Minister in matters of income tax. The income tax officer has already got the message, what will he investigate now. This shows that whole system has become corrupt,” he said.

“If Vadra is a private citizen, then I don’t know why does he not answer on specific issues. If the Congress has no role, then why are Congressmen defending him?,” Kejriwal asked.

DLF response full of half truths, lies

Reacting to the response given by DLF in response to Kejriwal’s allegations that the company had sold property at throw away prices and given unsecured loans to Vadra, Kejriwal said: “DLF’s response is full of half truths and lies. At lot of information has been suppressed. We will issue a detailed response tomorrow (Monday).”

The DLF, in its response, had stated that the charges levelled by Kejriwal were “false” and the company did not receive any undue benefits in land allotments in Delhi, Rajasthan or Haryana.