NEW DELHI: Amid the row over alleged ‘cash-for-query’ scam, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra on Tuesday said she will appear before the Lok Sabha Ethics Committee on November 2. Moitra, however, asserted she should be allowed to cross-examine business tycoon Darshan Hiranandani who has accused her of taking bribes to ask questions in Parliament.
The Lok Sabha Ethics Committee has summoned Moitra to depose before it on November 2 though she requested a hearing date after November 5 to accommodate her existing commitments. However, the committee asserted that it would not entertain any request for further extension.
In a letter to the chairperson of the Lok Sabha Ethics Committee on Tuesday, Moitra said she will appear before the panel on November 2, but questioned whether it is the appropriate forum to examine allegations of alleged criminality.
The panel is examining the allegations of BJP MP Nishikant Dubey that the TMC lawmaker had accepted money and gifts from Hiranandani for raising questions in Parliament targeting Adani group. In the letter, Moitra said parliamentary committees lack criminal jurisdiction and emphasised the importance of involving law enforcement agencies in such cases.
The MP reiterated her request to cross-examine Darshan Hiranandani, who submitted an affidavit to the committee “without offering substantial evidence”. In a signed affidavit, Hiranandani admitted to the committee that he got access to Parliament login details of Moitra in exchange of expensive gifts and favours. Moitra sought permission to cross-examine the complainant, Jai Anant Dehadrai, who provided no documentary evidence to support the charges, she said.
“In light of the seriousness of the allegations, it is imperative that the alleged ‘bribe-giver’ Darshan Hiranandani, who has given a ‘suo-motu’ affidavit to the committee with scant details and no documentary evidence whatsoever, be called to depose before the committee and provide the said evidence in the form of a documented itemised inventory with amounts, date, etc,” she said.
“In keeping with the principles of natural justice I wish to exercise my right to cross-examine Hiranandani,” she said, adding that an inquiry without allowing her the opportunity to cross-examine would be “incomplete and unfair”.
The MP alleged that in the absence of a structured Code of Conduct for members, the committee should display objectivity and fairness in addressing individual cases. She said Lok sabha MP Ramesh Bidhuri was summoned on October 10 to provide oral evidence but he expressed his inability to depose as he was campaigning in Rajasthan. “No further date of his hearing has been given so far. I wish to place on record that these double-standards reek of political motives,” she said.