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The Enforcement Directorate has summoned Trinamool Congress leader Mahua Moitra for questioning in the FEMA violation case. The former MP has been asked to appear before the agency on March 11.
Sources told PTI-Bhasha The 49-year-old leader had sought a few weeks' time to join the investigation and had sent a letter to the agency last month expressing his inability to appear before it.
The anti-corruption agency wants to interrogate the TMC leader and record his statement under the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) after he steps down from the post.
A case was registered against Moitra under FEMA as she has information about some foreign transactions, including undisclosed ones, which are being investigated under the Act.
Sources said that through these summons, the ED now wants to probe the transactions involving a non-resident external (NRE) account apart from some other foreign remittances and transfers of funds which are under investigation in this case.
Moitra is also being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with the alleged cash-for-query case. He was expelled as a member of the Lok Sabha after he was found guilty in that particular case by the Ethics Panel.
BJP MP Nishikant Dubey had accused Moitra of asking questions in the Lok Sabha at the behest of businessman Darshan Hiranandani in exchange for gifts to target Adani Group and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He had also accused Moitra of compromising national security for financial gain.
Moitra has denied any wrongdoing and claimed that she was being targeted because she had raised questions on Adani Group deals.
Meanwhile, earlier in the day, the Delhi High Court rejected an interim plea by Moitra, who was recently expelled from the Lok Sabha, against impeaching BJP MP Nishikant Dubey and lawyer Jai Anant Dehadrai for any “fake and defamatory” ” A demand was made to stop the material from being posted or disseminated.