NT NETWORK
PANAJI
Panaji police have filed a closure report before the Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC), Panaji, in connection with two separate First Information Reports (FIRs), which were registered in October 2014 against office bearers of BJP and Congress party for allegedly receiving illegal foreign funds amounting to Rs 5 crore each.
After conducting the investigation, police have filed ‘C’ summary report (neither true, nor false) and have cited the amendment to the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), informed sources.
According to the police, the amendment read as, ‘provided that where the nominal value of share capital is within the limits of specified for foreign investment under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 of the rule or regulations made there under, then, notwithstanding the nominal value of share capital of company being more than one half of such value at the time of making the contribution, such company shall not be a foreign source.’
It may be recalled that Kashinath Shetye from Ribandar had filed two separate complaints against BJP and Congress with the Panaji police station in December 2013. With police refusing to register an FIR, the complainant had approached the JMFC, which subsequently directed the police to register the FIR. In both the cases, police had booked office bearers of the BJP and Indian National Congress (INC) under various sections of the IPC including Section 35 of FCRA and Section 29 B of representation of Peoples Act, 1951.
According to the complainant, prior to December 8, 2013, at Panaji, office bearers of BJP accepted political foreign funding of Rs 5 crore from Sesa Goa Ltd, Sterlite Industries India Ltd and Madras Aluminium Company Ltd whereas in another complaint, it was claimed that prior to December 13, 2013, at Panaji, office bearers of Indian National Congress (INC) accepted political foreign funding of Rs 5 crore from Sesa Goa Ltd, Sterlite Industries India Ltd and Madras Aluminium Company Ltd.
According to reports, Shetye in his complaint against BJP had named Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, Laxmikant Parsekar, Vinay Tendulkar, MP Shripad Naik and office bearers including central BJP leaders. In the other complaint, Francisco Sardinha, Subhash Shirodkar, Congress national president Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and also P Chidambaram were named.