Mahua Moitra FEMA Case: Delhi HC Reserves Judgment Over Plea Against Leaking Confidential Info

In her plea to be heard by Justice Justice Subramaniam's bench on Thursday, Moitra alleged that the ED had deliberately leaked personal and confidential information about her in connection with the FEMA violation case being probed against her "due to bad intentions".

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Thursday Feb 22 reserved its judgment over a plea by Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra seeking to stop the ED from leaking “confidential and unconfirmed information” in connection with the probe against her under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), 1999. The ED however denied leaking the information to the media.

A bench of Justice Subramaniam while hearing the TMC MP's plea will announce the judgment on Friday Feb 23. In her plea, Mahua Moitra through her advocate Rebecca John said that ED is leaking confidential information related to the investigation of FEMA violations. John said that ED leaks any communication before sending it to the petitioner and it gets published as news.

Moitra has demanded to stop 19 media houses from publishing “unconfirmed, false and defamatory information” against her in the case. ED had issued summons to Mahua Moitra for questioning on February 14 and February 20 in the alleged FEMA violation case. Moitra has demanded that the ED and media houses be restrained from leaking and publishing material related to the investigation into FEMA violations while the case is pending.

Moitra alleged in the petition that ED has “deliberately leaked the information with bad intentions” against her. The TMC MP said that publishing news in a case where investigation is still going on is a violation of the petitioner's right to a fair investigation. However, the lawyer appearing for ED said that ED has not leaked any information and it is not aware of the source of the news.

It is pertinent to mention that on December 8, 2023, the Lok Sabha had abolished the membership of Mahua Moitra after the Ethics Committee determined her guilt in the 'cash for query' case. The Ethics Committee of the Parliament had considered allegations of Moitra asking questions for money to be true and had recommended the termination of the membership of the Parliament. Mahua Moitra was accused by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey of asking questions in lieu of taking money.

Moitra was accused of taking money from a businessman Darshan Hiranandani to ask questions about businessman Gautam Adani.