The Delhi High Court yesterday asked Union home ministry to produce in court today letters from the ministry to various Indian missions abroad regarding its probe into Rs 3.75 crore foreign donations received by Congress party in violation of Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA).
A division bench comprising Justice Mahinder Narain and Justice S K Mahajan asked additional solicitor general A M Singhvi to produce these letters and the latter agreed to bring them to court today for the perusal of the bench.
The court wondered as to how the law ministry gave an opinion as to FCRA provisions were not attracted on the basis of Congress reply that the donations were received from firms, in which over 50 per cent of sharholdings was controlled by non-resident Indians.
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Have you ascertained the donors? Have you been able to identify the nature of shareholdings of the companies? the bench asked.
A public interest petition filed by freelance journalist Madhuresh alleged that the authorities detected the irregularities in the Congress account as early as September 1996 but no action has been taken.
Section 4 of FCRA imposes a comprehensive ban on political parties from receiving any foreign donation.
Singhvi contended that the law ministry expressed its opinion only on the basis of the available facts supplied by the Congress party.
Are the given facts, the facts of the case? the bench quipped.
The additional solicitor general said as the facts were yet to be ascertained the home ministry has written to Indian missions in Port of Spain, London and the directorate of revenue intelligence and enforcement directorate for verification of the reply given by the Congress.
The law ministry has opined on the basis of certain facts. Whether these facts are correct or not, inquiry is underway, he said.
sel for the petitioner, mr shanti bhusan, said that this government will not do anything against congress party as it was dependent on its (outside) support.
however, counsel for the congress, mr g l sanghi, said that the petition was a malicious one targetting to tarnish the image of party president, mr sitaram kesri, and hence could not be heard as a public interest litigation.
Congress in its reply to fcra authorities had admitted of receiving rs 3.75 crore from four companies during 1993-94, when mr kesri was the treasurer of the party.