Within 72 hours after writing to the Election Commission asking it to frame rules for enforcement agencies and to prevent them from taking coercive steps against candidates contesting the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, Trinamool Congress leader Mahua Moitra today received an Enforcement Directorate summons for questioning in a Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) contravention case. The ED notice asked Moitra, who is contesting from the Krishnanagar Lok Sabha constituency, to report at its Delhi office on Wednesday.
Mahua Moitra, who was expelled from the Lok Sabha in December for “unethical conduct”, has been re-nominated by her party from West Bengal’s Krishnanagar seat in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
The fresh summons followed the earlier two summons when she skipped the investigation and did not appear before the investigators on March 11 and February 19. Mahua Moitra has been asked to join the probe with some documents related to some foreign investments related to the case. The agency wants to question Moitra in the case under the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), 1999.
The fresh summons comes days after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had raided her premises in connection with the cash-for-query case after anti-corruption ombudsman Lokpal directed the federal agency to investigate the allegations levelled against her by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey.
Nishikant Dubey, a Lok Sabha member, had alleged that Mahua Moitra asked questions in Parliament in exchange for cash and gifts from Dubai-based Hiranandani to mount an attack on industrialist Gautam Adani and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, among others.
Mahua Moitra has denied any wrongdoing and claims that she was being targeted as she raised questions on the deals of the Adani Group.
Moitra had also approached the Supreme Court, challenging her expulsion from the lower house of Parliament in connection with the cash-for-query allegations.
The case under scrutiny involves transactions linked to a non-resident external (NRE) account, along with several other foreign remittances and fund transfers, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The accusations involve Moitra purportedly targeting the Adani group and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Lok Sabha at the behest of businessman Darshan Hiranandani, allegedly in exchange for gifts. Additionally, she has been accused of compromising national security for monetary gains.