Ethics panel report on Mahua Moitra tabled in Lok Sabha

Bharatiya Janata Party MP and Ethics Committee chairperson Vinod Kumar laid on the table the first Report (Hindi and English versions) of the Committee on Ethics.

New Delhi: The report of the Ethics Committee recommending the expulsion of Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra in a “cash-for-query” matter was tabled in Lok Sabha on Friday.

Bharatiya Janata Party MP and Ethics Committee chairperson Vinod Kumar laid on the table the first Report (Hindi and English versions) of the Committee on Ethics.

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The report was submitted amid a ruckus created by TMC MPs raising slogans like “haye, haye…” The Ethics Committee, which investigated the allegations made by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, adopted its 500-page report on November 9 recommending Moitra’s expulsion from the 17th Lok Sabha in view of her “highly objectionable, unethical, heinous and criminal conduct.” The draft report was adopted by a 6:4 majority in the panel last month.

As per the sources, the draft report on Moitra’s cash-for-questions case reveals that she visited the UAE four times from 2019 to 2023 while her login was accessed several times.

Six members of the panel voted in favour of the report, including Congress MP Preneet Kaur who had earlier been suspended from the party. Four members of the panel belonging to opposition parties submitted dissent notes.

As per the sources, the draft report on Mahua Moitra’s cash-for-questions case reveals that she visited the UAE four times from 2019 to 2023 while her login was accessed several times.

The opposition members termed the report a “fixed match” and said the complaint filed by Dubey, which the panel reviewed, was not supported by a “shred of evidence”.

Moitra can be expelled only if the House votes in favour of the panel’s recommendation.

The TMC has demanded that Moitra be given a chance to put forth her defence.

TMC MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay has said, “I spoke with the Speaker, and he said that this committee report along with other reports will be tabled. I said that TMC MP Mahua Moitra should be given a chance to speak.” Moitra had appeared before the Lok Sabha Ethics Committee on November 2 over the cash-for-query allegations against her. Along with opposition members of the panel, she had “walked out” of the meeting. The opposition members who were part of the Ethics Committee raised questions over the line of questioning and alleged that “personal questions” were posed to the Trinamool Congress MP.