NEW DELHI: Opposing the foreign funding allegations before the Delhi High Court, NewsClick on Tuesday argued that it has complied with all the applicable guidelines, and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) itself says it has not violated any law. The news platform said its prosecution was completely dishonest, malafide and intended to harass it.
Challenging the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) FIR and the subsequent Enforcement Directorate (ED)-registered money laundering case, the media outlet asserted it has not violated any guidelines or norms governing foreign direct investment.
In a related case, NewsClick founder Prabir Purkayastha and HR chief Amit Chakraborty were arrested on October 3 and later an FIR was registered against them under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
"This is a completely dishonest, malafide complaint filed to harass a media channel. Now the man is sitting in jail," said senior advocate Kapil Sibal before Justice Saurabh Banerjee, adding that neither is there any violation of FDI guidelines nor a violation of any tax law.
"In the new FIR, they say the money came from China.. You can't send people to jail like this. He is a 72-year-old man," the senior counsel said.
Sibal contended that no offence was made out in the present case as the foreign funds from an investor abroad came in due compliance with the applicable law and practices.
"RBI itself says I have not violated any law. Yet prosecution is going on. ED is going on. The law is in my favour... I am being prosecuted. Nothing can be more malafide in this country," he stated.
"That's why poor people are languishing in jail (because) the news portal is against the establishment," Sibal added.
The lawyer submitted that the claim of foreign funds given to NewsClick having caused a loss to the exchequer cannot be sustained as it was a private transaction.
The counsel for the Delhi Police and ED submitted that the portal's plea seeking a copy of the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) has become infructuous as the Supreme Court has already ruled that the same was not required to be supplied.
PPK NewsClick Studio Pvt Ltd, which owns NewsClick, had moved the high court in 2021 seeking quashing of the criminal cases against the portal over allegations of violation of the FDI law.
The allegations in the FIR, registered by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police, are that the company, PPK NewsClick Studio Pvt Ltd, received FDI to the tune of Rs 9.59 crore from M/s Worldwide Media Holdings LLC USA during the financial year 2018-19 in violation of the law.
The FIR has alleged the investment was made after greatly overvaluing the shares of the company to avoid the cap of 26 per cent of FDI in a digital news website.