New Delhi: Hours after senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal said he didn't receive any money from the Popular Front of India (PFI), he made a U-turn and accepted receiving Rs 77 lakh as litigation fee for appearing in the Supreme Court between August 2017 to March 2018 for Hadiya in a case related to her marriage with Shafiya Jahan.
On March 8, 2018, the Supreme Court overruled a Kerala High Court order that had annulled the marriage of 22-year-old Hadiya to Shafin Jahan, on a petition filed by her father. Hadiya, born a Hindu and named Akhila Asokan, had married Shefin, a Muslim man, in 2016.
Sibal's remarks came after the Enforcement Directorate (ED), here on Monday, said that it had identified the PFI and the Rehab Foundation India (RFI) for providing over Rs 120 crore for the protests over the new citizenship law (CAA) and the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC).
According to the ED, Rs 77 lakh was paid to Sibal, Rs 4 lakh to senior advocate Indira Jaising, Rs 11 lakh to senior lawyer Dushyant Dave and Rs 3.10 lakh to person named Abdul Samad, who is also named in the National Investigation Agency (NIA) charge-sheet.
Refuting the claims Sibal had said, "The ED has released a statement analysing the PFI's bank accounts in which my name has been mentioned as a recipient for funding the anti-CAA agitations."
Sibal said the CAA became law only in December 2019. "In all matters in which I have appeared in the Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of the CAA, I have not raised, till date, any invoice," he said.
Accepting receiving Rs 77 lakh from the PFI, Sibal said, "The statement that I was paid Rs 77 lakh is with respect to litigation in the special leave petition titled 'Shafin Jahan versus Asokan K.M. and others. This is related to Hadiya's marriage to Shafin Jahan, which was challenged right up to the Supreme Court with the NIA and the father of Hadiya being parties."
Read:PFI on govt agencies’ scanner for funding violent anti-CAA protests
In that, Sibal said that he represented Hadiya, the wife, and ultimately the marriage was upheld and Hadiya was given the liberty to live with her husband Shafin. "For my appearances, I raised invoices and received payments thereon, through cheques from August 4, 2017, till March 8, 2018, from the PFI's Syndicate Bank account in Kerala's Kozhikode," he said.
"Sibal said he had raised the invoices on his advocate on record Haris Beerab for each of the appearances. Seven cheques were received in his office and were deposited in the bank by his staff," he added.
"I was paid for professional services rendered and for nothing else. Any insinuations made to besmirch my name and defame me will be taken seriously," he said.
Earlier in the day, Sibal refuted receiving payments from the PFI. "I have never received any amount from any organisation except for litigation. I don't even remember. Give me the dates of the receipt and I shall find out and let you know," Sibal told IANS. "If I would have received the payment then it must be a cheque payment, as I don't take cash," the senior lawyer said.
"If this amount has come to me through bank transfer then I must have raised a bill. If that amount is paid for legal services then what's wrong?" he said.
Sibal also said he never appeared for anyone linked to the CAA protests. "I have not represented any of the PFI cases and also not of the CAA protesters. The PFI has never paid me," he said.
An ED source told, "While keeping a tab on the PFI, we identified 73 bank accounts. Following the money trail, we came to know about the RFI, which provided over Rs 120 crore for the CAA and the NRC protests."