ED probes Karat-Singham email exchange, fund transfers to scribes

The ED, according to the sources, is investigating the 'end use' of the funds

A dump of email exchanges that include some between American billionaire Neville Roy Singham and senior Com­munist Party of India (Marxist) leader Prakash Karat are under the scanner of the Enfor­ce­ment Directorate (ED) as part of its money laundering probe against news portal NewsClick, which is alleged to have received dubious funds from the businessman to spread Chinese propaganda, official sources said on Thursday.
 

The federal financial investigation agency is also probing the alleged transfer of funds of about ~40 lakh from NewsClick to family members of activist Teesta Setalvad, transfer of ab­out ~72 lakh to journalist Paranjoy Guha Thak­ur­ta, some employees of News­Click and a few independent med­ia persons over a period of time.
 

It had found that NewsClick also allegedly paid ~17.08 lakh as “salary” to jailed activist Ga­u­tam Navlakha, ~97.32 lakh to Bappaditya Sinha, a sharehol­der in NewsClick and a member of the IT cell of the CPI(M) over an unspecified period.

The ED, according to the sources, is investigating the “end use” of these funds.
 

The online news portal and its activities came under the spotlight again after a recent New York Times report claimed that the outlet was part of a global network that received funding from Singham, who allegedly works closely with the Chinese government media machine.
 

The report was also raised in Parliament when Bharatiya Janata Party MP Nishikant Dubey said early this week that the funds pumped into NewsClick were used to create an anti-India environment and that he had documents pertaining to email exchanges between Karat and Singham.
 

The ED, as part of its crimin­al probe against NewsClick, its promoters and others, is investigating alleged fraudulent foreign funds infusion of more than ~86 crore from entities linked to Singham into its holding company (PPK Newsclick Studio Pvt. Ltd.) and it is soon expected to file a charge sheet in this case.
 

The ED had first raided the premises of NewsClick in Said­ulajab area of Delhi in Sep­tem­ber, 2021 on charges of money laundering and since then the probe is continuing besides the litigation between the two sides in the Delhi High Court.