5 TROUBLING FACTS ABOUT NAVEEN JINDAL

1.    After Jindal was charged in connection with the so-called “coal scam,” he needed the court’s official permission to travel abroad.

He was formally allowed to travel for specified days for business purposes and with certain conditions.

As recently as last September, he was required to provide a fixed deposit and certain assurances before given okay by the court.

He remains on six corruption-related charges.

2.    When Jindal jumped from one political party to another earlier this year, his former group had some choice words for him.

Jindal needs “a giant-size washing machine,” the Congress’ General Secretary Jairam Ramesh said.

Ramesh said that Jindal made “zero contributions to the party in the last 10 years” and that his resignation “is a big joke.”

The Congress official accused BJP’s leader Prime Miniser Narendra Modi of allowing corrupt people “to flee to his embrace.”

Ramesh referenced the accusations against Jindal of money laundering and involvement in the longstanding “coal scam.”

Jindal joined the ruling BJP and was elected to Parliament in the recent general election.

3.    Jindal’s company was involved in an appalling US $2.1 billion contract dispute in Bolivia, where he was due to mine iron ore.

Jindal was contracted to set up an integrated steel plant that would have generated 12,000 jobs and earn US $200 million a year for the Government of Bolivia.

Jindal was assured of 50 per cent of the profits.

It was the largest foreign investment in Bolivia and the biggest project in South America by an Indian firm.

But the Government cashed the guarantee of US $18 million and scrapped the contract after five years, claiming that Jindal did not deliver on his commitment.

Jindal said the Bolivian authorities did not supply natural gas for the project.

4.    When Jindal Steel and Power Ltd. won major awards earlier this year for advertising material at Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, a company claimed to be unfairly excluded from credits despite being involved in the campaign.

Litigation was filed by the claimant company and the dispute became a heated public controversy.

The matter was eventually settled out of court.

5.    The share price of Jindal Steel and Power Ltd. fell when news broke last October of collaboration with Venezuela.

Jindal denied any partnership with Venezuela’s State sector’s petrochemical company.

But six months later it was confirmed that Jindal was getting involved in a major oil venture with Venezuela’s authoritarian leader Nicholas Maduro.

There is speculation that Maduro referred Jindal to the Trinidad and Tobago Government.

Jindal is the favourite of the Rowley Administration to own or lease Petrotrin despite expressions of interest from nine locally-based companies, including a subsidiary of Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union.

Unlike Jindal, the nine bidders have not had meetings with Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley and Energy Minister Stuart Young.