Enforcement Directorate to question Antony, Kesri

George Iype in New Delhi

The Enforcement Directorate plans to question Congress president Sitaram Kesri and senior party leader A K Antony in connection with foreign donations worth Rs 37.5 million that the party received between 1992 and 1995.

The ED, under instructions from the federal home ministry, has issued a show-cause notice to the Congress for alleged violations of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act. It asked the party to reveal the names of the foreign donors who contributed Rs 37.5 million to Congress coffers.

Documents in possession with the ED reveal that the Congress received foreign donations worth Rs 37.5 million from London's Barclays Bank, the Singapore branch of Indian Bank and the Jakarta branch of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation as well as three Singapore-based companies, Decor, Dominion and Diera.

The Congress has claimed it does not know the identity of the donors and says the party has a tradition of receiving such donations from non-resident Indians.

The ED has threatened to prosecute Congress leaders and forfeit the amount if the party does not respond to a questionnaire it has sent present treasurer Ahmed Patel.

The ED has asked if Decor, Dominion and Diera are foreign firms or whether they belong to NRIs. If these companies are owned by NRIs, the agency wants their names and the reasons for the donations.

ED officials said it has a very strong case against the Congress as the FCRA prohibits political parties from getting foreign funds from any sources other than NRIs.

"We are not satisfied with the Congress's explanations, therefore, we will certainly question both Kesri and Antony," a senior ED official told Rediff On The NeT. Under FCRA, those responsible for receiving and depositing the funds are liable to prosecution, can be fined and/or sentenced to prison for up to five years.

Kesri was the Congress treasurer when the party received the controversial payments in the name of the 'President, All India Congress Committee,' then former prime minister P V Narasimha Rao.

But in 1995, when Kesri went abroad for medical treatment, it was Antony -- the acting party treasurer -- who received and deposited five of these cheques amounting to Rs 27.5 million in the Union Bank of India's New Delhi Branch.

Speaking to Rediff On The NeT from Thiruvananthapuram, Antony said he had accepted these cheques as the Congress had a tradition of receiving such foreign donations. "I prepared the receipts of the drafts and cheques in the name of the banks as the donors's names were not mentioned in them," he said.

Antony says he is ready to place all the facts about the foreign funds before the enforcement directorate and other agencies. "I have done nothing wrong," says the former Kerala chief minister who has a reputation for probity.

Congress sources said the party leadership is preparing a detailed explanation for the ED and the home ministry, claiming that the foreign drafts came from NRIs who preferred that their identities not be revealed.