NEW DELHI, Feb 17: The Congress on Tuesday accused Union minister Hardeep Puri of “lying” on the ‘Epstein files’ issue, and asked the BJP leader to come clean on the “62 email exchanges” and “14 meetings” he had with convicted American sex offender Jeffrey Epstein between 2014 and 2017.
The opposition party also reiterated its demand that Puri must resign immediately.
Puri has, however, denied all the charges levelled at him by the opposition party.
“Between 2014 and 2017, there were 62 email exchanges between Hardeep Puri and Epstein. Apart from that, what was discussed in the meetings on June 5, 6, 8 and 9, September 19, 23 and 24, and October 9 and 10 in 2014?” Congress’ media and publicity department head, Pawan Khera, asked at a press conference here.
“Puri wrote 32 emails while Epstein sent him 30 emails. There were 14 meetings, which began soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to office in 2014, and went on till 2017.
“The question is â?” what position did Hardeep Puri hold in June 2014, and in what capacity did he meet Epstein?” Khera asked.
The Epstein files are thousands of pages of documents related to two criminal investigations into sex trafficking by financier Jeffrey Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, including travel logs, recordings, and emails, which have been a topic of conversation since Epstein died in custody in 2019.
Citing a recent interview of Puri, Khera said the BJP leader spoke many “lies”.
“Why was Hardeep Puri sharing government policies with Epstein in his capacity as an ordinary citizen? He should first resign and then clarify this matter,” Khera said.
“Hardeep Puri has proven himself wrong by telling one lie after another in his interview. Now the question is, who is Hardeep Puri trying to protect by telling so many lies?” he added.
Khera also took a swipe at the Centre over Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates’ scheduled participation at the ongoing, high-profile AI Impact Summit in Delhi.
“Government sources are saying â?” Bill Gates will not come to the AI Summit, while Bill Gates himself is saying that I will come to the summit and deliver a speech,” Khera said.
While Gates has not been accused of wrongdoing by any of Epstein’s victims, records released by the US Justice Department include an allegation by Epstein that Gates caught a sexually transmitted disease.
Gates’s spokesperson had called the claim “absolutely absurd”.
Puri, on his part, has slammed the Congress and Gandhi for “passing innuendo” against him, clarifying that he met Epstein on a “few occasions”, but his interactions had nothing to do with the crimes the convicted sex offender was involved in. (PTI)
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