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Kerala: Thomas Issac Hits Out at ED Over Reported Probe Against KIIFB

KIIFB is the primary agency of the state government for financing large and critical infrastructure projects and had last year raised Rs 2,150 crore.

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac on Sunday lashed out at the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for its reported probe against the state-run KIIFB over-borrowing from international markets, saying such ‘tactics’ would not scare them.

He was reacting to reports in a section of media that the ED has started a probe against the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) and sought information from the Reserve Bank of India regarding its no-objection certificate to the board to borrow funds from international markets.

Isaac alleged the ED officials were leaking select information and directing the media houses on how to give headlines concerning the KIIFB and asserted the central agency would not be allowed to undermine the authority of the state government.

In a Facebook post and also addressing reporters, the Minister said the ED had sent a message to the media houses that “The CAG has found that the Kerala govt. has raised Rs 2,150 crore from the international market without the consent of the Centre, using Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB).

“Wouldn’t that amount to a possible violation of FEMA.

‘KIIFB masala bond too has come under ED radar’,” the message said, he added.

The opposition Congress and BJP targeted Issac and asked why he was opposing the ED probe if the transactions through the KIIFB were transparent.

Isaac said the ED officials may have seen “cowards who shiver” at the drop of the very name of the central agency but asked them not to expect the same in Kerala.

“I have one thing to say to the ED who have surrounded KIIFB with their radar. Your efforts will prove futile and your tactics are not going to scare us. You may have seen cowards who shiver at the very name of ED and beg for the Sangh Parivar’s mercy. Do not expect that in this land,” the Finance Minister said.

He maintained that the ED does not have the authority to probe based on newspaper reports.

“The CAG report is not out yet. The (assembly) Speaker had sought an explanation after the details of the CAG report came out in public domain before it was tabled. Further actions on CAG report can only be taken by the Public Accounts Committee and not the ED office in Kochi,” Isaac said.

The Finance Minister also hit out at the Congress, saying they were playing a role devised by the BJP to topple the Kerala government.

State Congress chief Mullappally Ramachandran said the ED initiated a probe into KIIFB because they “found irregularities” in its projects and that loans were taken ‘against’ Constitutional provisions.

Also read: In Kerala, a CAG Report Kicks up Political Controversy and More

“The finance minister is opposing the probe because he has something to hide. If the transactions through KIIFB were transparent, why is the minister opposing the probe?” he asked.

BJP state chief K. Surendran said the CAG report was leaked due to fear of a probe into the Masala bond and other transactions of the KIIFB.

“The finance minister is fooling the people by misleading them about the RBI NoC. Isaac should face the probe. The BJP’s protest is against the violation of the law and not against KIIFB,” Surendran told reporters.

“If there is no corruption in the KIIFB, then why is the minister afraid of the probe,” he added.

The CAG has submitted a report to the assembly suggesting that the KIIFB’s borrowing model was unconstitutional.

Isaac had earlier described as one-sided the CAG finding that the KIIFB’s borrowing model was unconstitutional.

KIIFB is the primary agency of the state government for financing large and critical infrastructure projects and had last year raised Rs 2,150 crore through its debut masala bond issue as part of its plan to mobilise Rs 50,000 crore to fund large and critical infrastructure projects in the southern state.

BJP Leader Writes to AG Seeking Consent to Initiate Contempt Against Andhra CM

Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay said the letter by the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister scandalises the authority of the SC and HC both.

New Delhi: An advocate wrote to Attorney General K.K. Venugopal seeking his consent to initiate contempt proceedings against Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy and his press advisor for making allegations against a Supreme Court judge.

BJP leader and lawyer Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay said the letter by the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister scandalises the authority of both the Supreme Court and the high court and interferes with the judicial proceedings and the administration of justice.

Even worse, if this kind of precedent were allowed, political leaders would start making reckless allegations against judges who do not decide cases in their favour and this trend would soon spell the death knell of an independent judiciary,” Upadhyay wrote in his letter.

I am therefore seeking your kind consent under Section 15(1)(b) of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 read with Rule 3 of the Rules to Regulate Proceedings for Contempt of the Supreme Court, 1975 to initiate criminal contempt against Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh and Shri Ajeya Kallam, Press Advisor of the Government of Andhra Pradesh, he said.

Also read: In Y.S. Jagan v Justice Ramana, Modi Government Wins, Regardless of Outcome

According to Upadhyay’s letter, the actions of these two individuals constitute grave criminal contempt of the Supreme Court of India and the High Court of Andhra Pradesh.

It has been two weeks since the release of Reddy’s letter in the public domain, and as yet, there has been no suo-motu contempt action initiated by the Supreme Court, the advocate said in his letter.

In an unprecedented move, the chief minister wrote to the CJI, alleging that the Andhra Pradesh High Court was being used to “destabilise and topple my democratically elected government.”

He had requested the CJI to look into the matter and consider initiating steps “as may be considered fit and proper to ensure that the state judiciary’s neutrality is maintained”.

The chief minister had alleged that the senior apex court judge had proximity to TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu and that a “former judge of the honourable Supreme Court placed this fact on record”.

Facebook Is Non-Partisan, Denounces Hate: Company Tells Congress

Facebook’s Public Policy, Trust and Safety Director Neil Potts has said that it has taken the party’s allegation of bias very seriously.

New Delhi: Amid a raging controversy over Facebook’s alleged political bias and interference in India’s democratic process, the social media giant has told the Congress that it is non-partisan, denounces hate and bigotry in all forms and strives to ensure that its platforms remain a space where people can express themselves freely

Responding to concerns raised by the opposition Congress, Facebook’s Public Policy, Trust and Safety Director Neil Potts has said that it has taken the party’s allegation of bias very seriously and will ensure that it remains non-partisan and is committed to maintaining the highest levels of integrity

The Congress accused Facebook of interfering in India’s democratic process and social harmony and being soft on members of the ruling BJP on applying its hate-speech rules

The Congress had written to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg following reports by the Wall Street Journal and the Time magazine about the conduct of Facebook and WhatsApp India’s leadership team, alleging bias and proximity with the ruling BJP.

Also read: Facebook Bans BJP’s T. Raja Singh Over Hate Speech Violations

“We take seriously the concerns and recommendations you raised on behalf of the Indian National Congress… First and foremost, we want to take this opportunity to state that we are non-partisan and strive to ensure that our platforms remain a space where people can express themselves freely. We take allegations of bias seriously and want to make clear that we denounce hate and bigotry in all forms,” Potts said in the letter, dated September 1

In his letter to AICC general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal, who had written to Zuckerberg twice, Potts said, “On the question of hateful content by public figures, we want to assure you that our Community Standards prohibit attacks against people based on their protected characteristics, including religion, caste, ethnicity, and national origin. In line with our hate speech policy, we have removed and will continue to remove hateful content by public figures in India on our platforms.”

Facebook is at the centre of a raging political debate in the country with both the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress accusing it of colluding and influencing opinion

The BJP has accused the social media giant’s employees of supporting people from a political predisposition that lost successive elections, and “abusing” Prime Minister and senior cabinet ministers

In a three-page letter to Zuckerberg, IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad flagged the social media platform’s alleged “bias and inaction” by individuals in the Facebook India team on complaints by people supportive of right-of-centre ideology.

Facebook Hate Speech Row: Firm’s India Chief Probed by Parliamentary Panel

Ajit Mohan was questioned by the ruling and opposition members of the committee and gave an oral reply to some questions and responded in writing to nearly 90 others.

New Delhi: Amid a raging row over Facebook’s alleged political “bias”, a Parliamentary panel on Wednesday questioned the company’s India head, Ajit Mohan, for over two hours, with both BJP and Congress members of the panel accusing the social media giant of colluding and influencing opinion, a charge denied by the firm.

While BJP members raised questions about alleged political links of the Facebook employees, claiming that many of its senior executives have worked with the Congress and its leaders in different capacities, the opposition members asked why content, including videos containing hate speech were still available online and not taken down by the social media giant.

Sources said Ajit Mohan was questioned by the ruling as well as opposition members of the committee and gave an oral reply to some questions while he has been given nearly 90 questions, to which he has to respond in writing.

According to sources, questions were also asked about Mohan’s association with Congress Kerala unit during 2011 assembly elections and the UPA government, to which he responded that he was associated as a professional and not in any political capacity.

BJP MPs also alleged that those who follow Left ideology or have worked with the Congress are dominating third party firms which do fact-checks for Facebook and cited many names of the top management of the social media firm and its fact-checking partners.

According to sources, Facebook executive denied these allegations, saying the company respects freedom of speech and has a system where rules are followed and action is taken.

“There were several issues related to Facebook which were discussed and the Congress raised the issue of the articles and the alleged collusion between BJP and Facebook. However, the representative from Facebook denied the charges and asserted that they followed global standards in reporting posts. He also denied that there was any collusion with the BJP,” a source, who was present in the meeting said on the condition of anonymity.

Also read: Facebook Bans BJP’s T. Raja Singh Over Hate Speech Violations

After the hearing, a Facebook company spokesperson said, “We thank the Honorable Parliamentary Committee for their time. We remain committed to being an open and transparent platform, and giving people a voice and allowing them to express themselves freely.”

Senior Congress leader and panel chief Shashi Tharoor tweeted, “in response to overwhelming media interest in the meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology….this is all I can say: We met for some three and a half hours and unanimously agreed to resume the discussion later, including with representatives of Facebook.”

Apart from the Facebook representatives, few others also appeared before the panel, taking the total proceedings to almost three and a half hours.

According to sources, as discussions could not be concluded with the Facebook representatives, there was a view to calling the meeting again on September 10, 2020, but consensus could not be achieved with some members objecting to it because the committee’s tenure was ending on September 12, 2020, and will be reconstituted.

Sources said, there was also a feeling that some in the committee want to remove Tharoor as chairperson and one member also gave a sort of a ‘farewell speech’ for Tharoor, suggesting he may not remain the head of the Parliamentary panel.

The panel had called representatives of Facebook to hear their views “on the subject of safeguarding citizens’ rights and prevention of misuse of social/online news media platforms including special emphasis on women security in the digital space”.

The panel had also called representatives of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology on the same issue, while a few others including some digital media activists also deposed before the panel.

An official said 18 members of the panel including the chairman were present.

Opposition raises concern

Meanwhile, after the Congress and the BJP, the Trinamool Congress also wrote to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg raising the issue of alleged bias of the social media giant towards the BJP and claimed that there is enough evidence in the public domain to substantiate this charge.

In his letter, party MP Derek O’Brien also makes a reference to an earlier meeting with Zuckerberg where some of these concerns were raised.

Also read: On BJP’s Request, Facebook Pulled Down 14 of 44 Flagged Pages, Reinstated 17 Deleted Pages

In a related development, CPI(M) MP P.R. Natarajan has written to Tharoor, demanding a criminal investigation into Facebook’s alleged links with the BJP.

The political slugfest was triggered by Tharoor’s announcement that the panel would like to hear from Facebook about a recent report published in the Wall Street Journal claiming that the social media platform ignored applying its hate-speech rules to some BJP politicians had evoked a strong reaction from the ruling party members in the panel.

BJP MP Nishikant Dubey had alleged that the Congress leader has been using the panel’s platform to further his and his party’s political agenda and even demanded his removal as chairman.

A fresh round of political slugfest started on the issue on Monday with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi claiming that the international media has “exposed” Facebook and WhatsApp’s “brazen assault” on India’s democracy and social harmony.

“No one, let alone a foreign company, can be allowed to interfere in our nation’s affairs. They must be investigated immediately and when found guilty, punished,” Gandhi tweeted.

IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad also wrote to Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday, accusing the social media platform’s employees of supporting people from a political predisposition that lost successive elections, and “abusing” Prime Minister and senior cabinet ministers.

In a three-page letter to Facebook Chief Executive Zuckerberg, Prasad alleged ‘bias and inaction’ by individuals in the Facebook India team on complaints by people supportive of right-of-centre ideology.