Mahua cleared her stand on bribery charges, TMC waiting for report of Parl panel probe: Derek O’Brien

The Trinamool Congress on Sunday said since its MP Mahua Moitra has already clarified her stand on allegations of bribe for questions raised, the party would now now await the probe by the parliamentary ethics committee as the matter has to do with “her rights and privileges”. BJP MP Nishikant Dubey and lawyer Jai Anant Dehadrai have alleged that Moitra had accepted favours from Hiranandani in exchange for raising questions in Parliament. In response, Moitra filed a defamation suit against them before the Delhi High Court. Dubey’s complaint has been referred to Parliament’s Ethics Committee by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. TMC has tried to distance itself from the controversy.

Rajya Sabha MP O’Brien told PTI Video, “The member concerned has been advised by the party leadership to clarify her position regarding the allegations levelled against her. She has already done that.”

“However, since the matter has to do with an elected MP, her rights and privileges, let the matter be investigated by the right forum of Parliament, after which the party leadership will take an appropriate decision,” he added. Darshan Hiranandani, the CEO of real estate-to-energy group Hiranandani, who allegedly paid Moitra to raise questions in Parliament about Adani Group, recently claimed in a signed affidavit that she targeted Gautam Adani to “malign and embarrass Prime Minister Narendra Modi whose impeccable reputation gave opposition no opportunity to attack him”.

Vinod Sonkar, the chairman of the Lok Sabha Ethics Committee, had said he had received the sworn-in affidavit from Hiranandani.

Moitra, however, has raised questions over the credibility of Hiranandani’s affidavit, alleging that it was “drafted by the PMO” and he was forced to sign it after being “threatened” with “total shut down” of his family’s businesses.