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Lok Sabha ethics committee to call for Mahua Moitra’s expulsion: Officials
The panel will also suggest that an intense institutional and legal inquiry should be done in a time-bound manner to look into the criminal charges in this case
The Lok Sabha ethics committee will recommend the expulsion of Trinamool Congress (TMC) member of Parliament (MP) Mahua Moitra from the Lower House for allegedly sharing her login credentials with a businessman living outside India, an act that the panel found amounted to unethical conduct, officials aware of developments said on Wednesday.
The panel will also suggest that an intense institutional and legal inquiry should be done in a time-bound manner to look into the criminal charges in this case, said the officials quoted above.
The 500-page draft report, which was circulated among the members of the 15-member panel on Wednesday evening, is set to be adopted on Thursday in what is likely to be a stormy meeting.
The report will then be laid on the floor of the Lok Sabha on the first day of the winter session, which is likely to begin on December 4.
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Officials with knowledge of the matter said the government will move a motion in the House on the same day to expel Moitra, a first term lawmaker from Krishnanagar in West Bengal, for the remaining term of the 17th Lok Sabha.
The panel will also ask Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to take some action against Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MP Danish Ali, who is a member of the ethics committee, for allegedly twisting and moulding the intent of the chairman’s questions to Moitra and allegedly fomenting public sentiments against the panel.
Ali was one of the five Opposition MPs who stormed out of the panel’s proceedings alongside Moitra on November 2, accusing the chair of asking inappropriate and personal questions.
Functionaries maintained that the report identified a lapse by Moitra, namely sharing the MP’s login credentials with businessman Darshan Hiranandani, who corroborated the allegations in a separate affidavit before the panel.
“MPs are expected not to share their login details, including passwords, with others. Moitra flouted that norm and also allowed a businessman to post questions of his interest,” said a senior functionary, requesting anonymity.
Moitra, in her deposition, had accepted that she shared her login credentials with Hiranandani, but argued that most of the MPs share their login details with their staff.
The officials quoted above also pointed out that the email policy of the Government of India (GoI) released in 2014 held the user responsible for any data or e-mail transmitted using the GoI e-mail system. “All e-mails/data sent through the mail server are the sole responsibility of the user owning the account. Sharing of passwords is prohibited,” the policy states.
This policy is applicable for MPs as they use a sensitive portal created and managed by National Informatics Centre for Parliament.
The panel will also recommend further probe into the criminal aspects of the case, said the officials cited above.
According to the officials, the panel will recommend that the government conduct an intense institutional and legal inquiry through an appropriate body in a time-bound manner to look into the criminal charges in this case.
Officials pointed out that in 2005 cash for query case, the Rajya Sabha ethics panel, which probed charges against Chhattrapal Singh Lodha and other accused, had made a similar recommendation, besides recommending his expulsion. “In the course of the examination of this case, a sordid state of affairs came to light, namely, the role of corrupt middlemen, private secretaries/personal assistants of members, officials working in the parliamentary party offices, who have been instrumental in arranging the meetings of undercover reporters with MPs and acted as conduits in murky deals. Their misdeeds not only infringe the law prima facie but have the potential to wreck the system from within. The committee would suggest that after taking legal advice, the concerned authorities may proceed against them under the law so as to stem the rot,” the Rajya Sabha panel recommended at the time.
A sting operation by online site Cobrapost on December 12, 2005, showed 11 MPs accepting cash in exchange for raising questions in the Parliament. On December 24, 2005, Parliament voted to expel the 11 MPs. Pranab Mukherjee, the leader of the Lok Sabha at the time, introduced a resolution asking for expulsion of the MPs while then PM Manmohan Singh did the same in the Rajya Sabha.
A former Lok Sabha official said that the ethics panel is not equipped to launch a criminal investigation. Therefore, a government agency has to be involved, the official added.
The row began after BJP lawmaker Nishikant Dubey wrote to Birla three weeks ago on the basis of a complaint by lawyer Jai Anant Dehradai, who alleged Moitra accepted money and favours to ask questions in Parliament. Moitra is accused of giving direct access to Hiranandani to post questions on the Lok Sabha portal on her behalf and receiving expensive gifts from the businessman, who also allegedly underwrote her bungalow renovations and paid for her foreign trips.
Moitra denied the charges that she received gifts, and asked other parliamentarians if they never shared their passwords.
The ethics panel held two meetings on September 26 and October 2. Dubey and Dehadrai, the two complainants, deposed in the first meeting. Moitra deposed in the second meeting but walked out of it during her cross-examination, accusing chairman Vinod Sonkar of asking “filthy and personal questions”. Sonkar later alleged that Moitra used anger to deflect legitimate questions, and used unparliamentary language against the panel and the chair.
The meeting on Thursday is expected to be a stormy affair as Opposition members are set to oppose the draft report. The 15-member panel has six Opposition members, and the remaining MPs are from the ruling dispensation.
