The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has issued renewed summons to Mahua Moitra, a Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader and former Lok Sabha MP, on March 11 for interrogation in connection with a case under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).
Earlier, Moitra was scheduled to appear before the ED on February 19 in Delhi for recording her statement under FEMA. However, she requested a three-week extension, which the agency granted. The FEMA case against Moitra involves probing various foreign transactions, including undisclosed ones, as per information available to the authorities.
Simultaneously, Moitra is under investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in relation to a preliminary enquiry linked to the alleged cash-for-query case. The Ethics panel expelled her from Lok Sabha after finding her guilty in the ‘cash-for-query’ case.
The accusations against Moitra emerged when BJP MP Nishikant Dubey accused her of posing questions in Lok Sabha to target the Adani Group and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, allegedly at the behest of businessman Darshan Hiranandani, in exchange for gifts. Dubey also alleged that Moitra compromised national security for financial gains.
Moitra vehemently denied any wrongdoing, asserting that she was being targeted for scrutinizing the Adani group’s deals. She questioned the lack of an official upload of any referral order by Lok Pal on its website, as per the Lokpal Act, and emphasized the absence of any official information from the CBI. Moitra suggested that her situation was being sensationalized in the media, and she hoped the alleged Adani coal scam, amounting to ₹13,000 crore, would warrant a CBI Preliminary Enquiry (PE) rather than being subjected to a witch hunt.
As the investigations unfold, Moitra’s legal and political battles continue, with the TMC leader steadfastly maintaining her innocence and attributing the allegations against her to political motives and vendettas. The subsequent developments in both the ED’s FEMA case and the CBI’s enquiry will likely shape the trajectory of Moitra’s legal challenges and political future.
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