NEW DELHI, Mar 27: The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday issued fresh summons to appear before it on Thursday to the Trinamool Congress leader Mahua Moitra and businessman Darshan Hiranandani for questioning in a Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) contravention case, official sources said.
The 49-year-old Trinamool Congress leader was called for questioning earlier also by the central agency. Ms Moitra, who was expelled from the Lok Sabha in December for “unethical conduct,” has been renominated by her party from West Bengal’s Krishnanagar seat in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had raided her premises in connection with the cash-for-query case on Saturday, days after anti-corruption ombudsman Lokpal directed the federal agency to investigate the allegations levelled against her by the BJP MP Nishikant Dubey.
Dubey, a BJP Lok Sabha member, had alleged that Ms 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. Transactions linked to a non-resident external (NRE) account are under the ED’s scanner apart from a few other foreign remittances and fund transfers, the sources said.
Ms Moitra has denied any wrongdoing and claims that she was being targeted as she raised questions on the deals of the Adani Group.
(Manas Dasgupta)
