National security, illegal gratifications: Ethics panel’s reasons to indict Mahua

The Lok Sabha Ethics Committee, explaining its decision to indict TMC MP Mahua Moitra, has stated that her sharing of Lok Sabha portal log-in credentials with businessman Darshan Hiranandani, who has residency rights in Dubai and close relatives who are foreign nationals, poses “a serious risk of leakage of sensitive material to foreign agencies”.

The panel has cited the report submitted by the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to record that Moitra’s profile was logged into 47 times from the UAE between July 2019 and April 2023, a source told PTI.

‘Security threat’

Such leak of credentials could make the system vulnerable to serious cyber-attacks and potentially disable it entirely, crippling the functioning of India’s Parliament, the panel headed by BJP MP Vinod Kumar Sonkar is learnt to have concluded in its report, which was adopted in its meeting on Thursday.

Such elements could plant material into the system that could impact national security by creating false documents or fake narratives, the sources told PTI.

The committee was told that the portal hosts many documents, including draft bills circulated in advance to lawmakers, that are not available in public domain. As examples, the home ministry in its report cited as many as 20 bills, including one on banning the practice of triple talaq and insolvency code, uploaded on the portal in advance.

The Jammu and Kashmir Delimitation Bill, 2019, was circulated in advance, leading to the possibility of the leak of such sensitive material, which could be exploited by “inimical elements to the detriment of national security,” sources citing the draft report told PTI.

‘Illegal gratifications’

The committee also concluded with a majority view that the allegations that she accepted “illegal gratifications” from Hiranandani have been clearly established, the sources told PTI, adding that it went by her own deposition and her remarks to the media.

However, in reference to the allegations that she also accepted cash from the businessman, the panel has acknowledged that it does not have the technical wherewithal and expertise to criminally investigate and unearth the money trail.

This is invariably the task of central government institutions, sources citing its observations said. The panel has recommended that any “quid pro quo” could be investigated by the government in a time-bound manner.

Moitra, in her comments before the committee and outside, has rejected any quid-pro-quo while admitting that Hiranandani used her log-in credentials. However, she has insisted that many MPs share their log-in credential with others and asserted that she never asked any question in Lok Sabha at his behest, as alleged.

The Lok Sabha panel on Thursday recommended Moitra’s expulsion from the House.

(With agency inputs)