Cash-For-Query Case: Ethics Panel Recommends Mahua Moitra's Expulsion From Lok Sabha

The Lok Sabha Ethics Committee recommended the expulsion of Mahua Moitra over the allegations pertaining to the cash-for-query case.

Cash-For-Query Case: The Lok Sabha Ethics Committee on Friday recommended the expulsion of Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra over the allegations pertaining to the cash-for-query case. This comes after the panel presented its report on the cash-for-query allegations against Moitra in the Lok Sabha. The case pertains to the allegations levelled by Bharatiya Janata Party MP Nishikant Dubey that Moitra received bribes from businessman Darshan Hiranandani to target the Adani Group. Dubey wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to make these allegations.

The first report of the panel was tabled by Ethics Committee Chairman Vinod Kumar Sonkar on Friday when the Lower House reconvened at noon after an adjournment due to a ruckus during Question Hour. ABP News had accessed the report.

"The serious misdemeanours on the part of Mahua Moitra call for severe punishment. The Committee, therefore, recommend that Mahua Moitra, MP may be expelled from the Membership of the Seventeenth Lok Sabha," the report stated.

The report called for a government inquiry, stating, "In view of highly objectionable, unethical, heinous and criminal conduct of Mahua Moitra, the Committee recommends for an intense, legal, institutional inquiry by the Government of India in a time-bound manner."

 

The Committee also recommended an investigation by the government into the 'money trail' of cash transactions between Mahua Moitra and Darshan Hiranandani as a part of 'quid pro quo'. "The 'money trail' of cash transaction between Smt Mahua Moitra and Shri Darshan Hiranandani as a part of 'quid pro quo' should be investigated by the Government of India in a legal, institutional and time-bound manner," the report stated.

The Ethics Committee report was submitted in the lower house amid a ruckus created by TMC MPs. The Ethics Committee, which investigated the allegations made by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, adopted its 500-page report on November 9 recommending Moitra's expulsion from the 17th Lok Sabha in view of her "highly objectionable, unethical, heinous and criminal conduct."