00:00A foreign funding trade, 92.33 crore under the scanner and allegations of information warfare
00:08aimed at undermining India's sovereignty. And these are very grave charges.
00:13The enforcement directorate has taken its case against a newspaper, a news organization,
00:19news click to the Supreme Court, challenging the Delhi High Court decision to quash the money
00:25laundering proceedings against the portal and its founder, Fabir Purkayastha.
00:29The enforcement directorate has argued that the High Court overruled crucial email statements
00:35and other material and examined the merits of the case too early.
00:40The enforcement directorate has flagged 92.3 crore in alleged foreign exchange violations.
00:46This includes 9.59 crore in foreign direct investment and 82.63 crore in software export receipts,
00:54which the agency claims were payments against services that did not even exist.
01:00The agency is questioning not just where the money came from, but how it was rooted and how it was
01:07accounted for and what it was allegedly used to finance.
01:12At the centre of the ED case is Neville Roy Singham, a US-born businessman based in Shanghai in China.
01:20The ED cites emails allegedly involving Singham, Newsclick founder Prabir Purkayastha and a certain Vijay Prasad.
01:29It alleges that funds move through foreign entities with Purkayastha and associates involved in the network.
01:35The agency has also raised allegations concerning an alleged legal network involving Chinese telecom companies,
01:43including Xiaomi and Vevo.
01:46At the central agency's most serious allegation concerns the intended use of these funds.
01:52The agency claims Singham directed Newsclick's coverage to promote narrative favourable to China.
02:00It has cited coverage relating to Jammu and Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh,
02:05the farmers' protest and India's COVID-19 response as examples of content it alleges
02:10were part of a wider information warfare campaign.
02:15I quickly want to cut across to India today's Munish Pandey,
02:19breaking this big story and getting us inside details of the ED's case.
02:24Munish, 92.3 crore under the scanner.
02:28Where did the money come from?
02:30How was it moved?
02:31What was it used for?
02:33Has to be more than just allegations and claims.
02:36Does the ED have documentary proof of how the money came in,
02:41for what purpose and how it was used?
02:46Well, Gaurav, at this point of time,
02:49ED maintains that they have concrete evidence to prove that
02:53the 9.59 crore which came to Newsclick as a foreign funding
02:58was in violation of, you know, the FDI rules in the country.
03:02The Reserve Bank of India was not kept in the loop and it was a clear-cut case of money
03:07laundering.
03:08But why this case is important according to the enforcement directorate, Gaurav,
03:13and why this becomes important,
03:16Nibel Roy Singham is a very important person for the enforcement directorate.
03:20He is someone who is a U.S. citizen but based in China, a very close association with the Chinese
03:28Communist Party.
03:29And he was investing money in Newsclick so that the image of India can be branded as a bad country,
03:37whereas China can be portrayed in a good way as far as the Indian audience is concerned.
03:44India has also found several evidence.
03:46For example, there are mail trails between Parveer Purkhayas and Nibel Roy Singham
03:54in which they are talking about the Indian audience,
03:58how there can be reports which can be against the Indian present government.
04:02For example, when it was COVID-19,
04:04then there was a coverage which supported what Indian government was doing at that point of time
04:14that was shown in a bad light according to the enforcement directorate.
04:17Second, again, it was farmers' agitation.
04:21That was also something which was highlighted by Nibel Roy Singham.
04:26And according to enforcement directorate,
04:28Newsclick was working on behest of Nibel Roy Singham.
04:34Not only this, when the enforcement directorate shared this information
04:39with the federal probe agency of U.S., which is FBI,
04:44they also found evidence that there was anti-Israel protest
04:49which was organized by Nibel Roy Singham.
04:52So there are multiple evidence which the enforcement directorate is confident about,
04:57and that is why now they have approached the Supreme Court.
05:01They are pretty confident that the high court order can be overturned by the Supreme Court,
05:09and the proceedings against Newsclick and Nibel Roy Singham can be continued.
05:14But as far as ED is concerned, there are multiple allegations
05:19against Newsclick and especially against Nibel Roy Singham,
05:22which according to enforcement directorate were working against the country,
05:26against the present government,
05:28and that is why according to enforcement directorate,
05:30this investigation becomes extremely important.
05:33Keep tracking that story.
05:34I will come back to you for more for the moment.
05:37Munish, many thanks.
05:38Munish, many thanks.
