The Enforcement Directorate has informed the Supreme Court that the pro-China news portal NewsClick was funded by the CCP stooge Neville Roy Singham, through a network of foreign entities as part of a purported information warfare campaign aimed at undermining India’s sovereignty and spreading Chinese propaganda.
The ED has said NewsClick violated foreign exchange regulations, with transactions worth Rs 92.33 crore linked to it. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) alleged that transactions worth Rs 92.33 crore linked to NewsClick violated foreign exchange regulations. The amount included Rs 9.59 crore in foreign direct investment (FDI) and Rs 82.63 crore in software export earnings purportedly received for services that were never provided.
NewsClick issued 8,333 shares of equity at an inflated premium of Rs 11,510 per share, but the original price was Rs. 10. These transactions violated Reserve Bank of India (RBI) regulations and were structured to circumvent the 26 % FDI cap applicable to digital news media.
The ED further said that the funds were subsequently diverted to produce “anti-India content”. It went through payments as salaries, consultancy fees and rent to journalists and freelancers.
ED investigators said that Singham not only financed NewsClick but also exchanged incriminating emails with Purkayastha, journalists, so-called activists and several leaders of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
According to an ED source, the emails discussed developments in China, coverage of the CPI(M) in China, anti-China sentiment in India, restrictions on Chinese investments and imports, the CPI(M)’s victory in Kerala local body elections, praise for the Chinese government and tributes paid by the CPI(M) to Mao Zedong.
Vijay Prashad has contributed several propaganda articles to NewsClick. Prashad is the nephew of Brinda Karat, a CPI(M) leader and wife of Prakash Karat, also a senior CPI(M) leader, whose email exchanges with Neville Roy Singham revealed their close ties in the NewsClick-Chinese funding scandal.
The ED presented these arguments before the Supreme Court last week while challenging the Delhi High Court’s decision to quash the money laundering case against the news portal and its founder, Prabir Purkayastha.
In the report, the agency said, “His (Singham’s) goal is to orchestrate ‘information warfare’ to subvert India’s sovereignty, while simultaneously indulging in physically and financially encouraging separatism across divergent, unconnected, independent ideological axis with the objective of weakening the Indian State“
According to ED’s argue, the High Court overlooked crucial evidence. They overlooked email exchanges and statements and prematurely examined the merits of the case. Later, the ED said that the funding was part of a pre-planned strategy involving foreign entities and individuals associated with Singham.
In May, the Delhi High Court cancelled the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) FIR and the corresponding ED case. The case held that the essential ingredients of cheating, criminal breach of trust and criminal conspiracy were not made out. The ED has challenged the order before the Supreme Court.
Neville Roy Singham is a Sri Lankan-origin, Shanghai-based American national. He helped establish and fund PPK NewsClick Studio Pvt Ltd through Purkayastha to spread pro-Chinese, anti-India, and anti-Hindu propaganda in India. Singham has a strong connection with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
An investigative series by Fox News has revealed that the Chinese Communist Party stooge Neville Roy Singham pumped nearly $600 million into his pro-China information and narrative laundering network spread across five continents.Roy Singham has been funding ultra-leftist, anarchist and separatist organisations across countries, including India, through a network of entities.
