Vadra-DLF deals: Can’t probe unless specific charge, says Chidambaram

As various Congress leaders continue to defend Robert Vadra, Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Monday said “unless there is specific allegation of quid pro quo government can`t probe private deals.”

Zeenews Bureau

New Delhi: As various Congress leaders continue to defend Congress chief Sonia Gandhi`s son-in-law Robert Vadra, Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Monday said “unless there is specific allegation of quid pro quo, government can`t probe private deals.” "...Unless there is a specific allegation of quid pro quo or corruption, I am afraid private transactions cannot and ought not to be allowed to be questioned on the basis of imputations and insinuations", he said while responding to a question on the Vadra-DLF deals at the Economic Editors` Conference here. Earlier, reacting to Arvind Kejriwal and Prashant Bhushan’s allegations against Robert Vadra, Chidambaram on Saturday had said that from the information he had gathered, the transactions had been disclosed in the appropriate income-tax and other returns. "I`m not aware of the rightness or wrongness of these allegations. Transactions between two private individuals cannot be questioned on the basis of certain imputed or implied act of corruption," the Finance Minister had said. India Against Corruption`s Arvind Kejriwal and Prashant Bhushan had last week alleged that realty major DLF had favoured Vadra in some property deals. Kejriwal and Bhushan alleged that Vadra had bought properties worth over Rs 300 crore between 2007 and 2010 with an interest-free unsecured loan of Rs 65 crore provided by DLF. They claimed that the properties were given at undervalued rates in exchange of favours allegedly received from Congress state governments in Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi. The Congress has since then continued to target Kejriwal and his associates in India Against Corruption (IAC) over allegations against Vadra while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been saying said the Congress should "clear the situation" instead of trying to run down the activists.