Explained | NewsClick’s alleged links to China; who received the money and when?

On Tuesday (Oct 3), around 500 personnel of Delhi Police raided over 100 locations in the National Capital Region (NCR) and Mumbai linked to web news portal NewsClick and its journalists.

NewsClick, founded in 2009, is known for severely criticising the Narendra Modi-led government of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

News agency PTI reported that police seized laptops and mobile phones of some of the journalists. NewsClick editor-in-chief Prabir Purkayastha and journalists Abhisar Sharma and Urmilesh were among those targeted in the raids.

So far, Prabir Purkayastha and Amit Chakraborty, a shareholder in the company, have been arrested by police under the anti-terror Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

“Delhi Police landed at my home. Taking away my laptop and phone,” journalist Abhisar Sharma wrote on X. Another journalist, Bhasha Singh, wrote on X, “Finally last tweet from this phone. Delhi police seizure (sic) my phone.”

As per a report by PTI, the journalists were handed over a list of 25 questions, related to farmers’ protests against the Modi government and Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh protests against the citizenship law.

NewsClick’s alleged China links

The action against NewsClick comes months after a damning New York Times report which revealed that the web portal was linked to a China-backed media machine.

The report alleged that NewsClick received millions in funding from American billionaire Neville Roy Singham, a close associate of the Chinese government. The report also highlighted some content published by NewsClick, aimed at pushing the narrative generally peddled by Chinese media and government.

For example, the portal published a series of articles highlighting ‘China’s steps to contain the Covid-19 pandemic.’ It also published a video titled “China’s history continues to inspire the working classes”.

But the government’s action against NewsClick didn’t start after the New York Times report. India’s financial watchdog Enforcement Directorate (ED) had begun investigating foreign funding of NewsClick in 2021 itself.

ED’s case against NewsClick

According to media reports, ED’s investigation revealed that NewsClick received $4.56 million (INR 38 crore) in foreign funding over a period of three years.

The funds were then allegedly distributed to several controversial journalists, including Gautam Navlakha and associates of Teesta Setalvad.

A search was carried out by the ED at the offices of PPK Newsclick Studio and its associated entities and their Directors and shareholders (ten entities) located in Delhi NCR under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

During the search, foreign currency, incriminating documents and digital evidence were seized.

Details about foreign funding

ED revealed that out of the total Rs 38 crore, around Rs 9.59 crore were infused into NewsClick through Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). The rest came by way of export of services.

The FDI of Rs 9.59 crore came in April 2018 by way of subscription of shares of NewsClick (a loss-making company which was registered in January 2018) at a premium of INR 11,510/share (Face value of share was INR 10/share) from a non-existent company, namely Worldwide Media Holdings, a Delaware Limited Liability Company.

According to ED, Prabir Purkayastha had known Neville Roy Singham since 2017. However, during the interrogation, Prabir allegedly concealed his links to the man and claimed he didn’t know anything about him.

ED also alleged that the funds transferred from Singham to Prabir aimed at promoting a “leftist ideology”.

As per the results of ED’s investigation, the origin of the total Rs 38.05 crore rupees has been traced to an undisclosed source in China. According to allegations, Amit Chakraborty, a shareholder at NewsClick, mentioned in his statement under PMLA that Neville Roy Singham is the ultimate owner of funds received from the United States.

An amount of Rs 1.55 crore was disbursed to Joseph Raj, an electrician with a ninth-grade education and a close associate of Prabir Purkayastha, for minor maintenance work. However, no supporting documentation for this work was discovered or provided during the investigation.

Additionally, a payment of Rs 52.09 lakh was made to Bappaditya Sinha, another shareholder in NewsClick, who is also a member of the CPI(M)’s IT Cell and manages Twitter accounts for various party leaders.

The Chinese funds received were purportedly transferred to several contentious journalists and activists known for their criticism of the Modi government.

Beneficiaries of the funding

As per ED’s allegations, the following are the names who allegedly received money sourced from China-backed organisation in the US.

Javed Anand, husband of Teesta Setalvad (Rs. 12.61 lakh).
Tamara, daughter of Teesta Setalvad (Rs. 10.93 lakh)
Jibran, son of Teesta Setalvad
Gautam Navlakha (Rs. 20.53 lakh)
Urmilesh (Rs. 22.78 lakh)
Arartika Halder
Paranjoy Guha Thakurta (Rs. 40.04 lakh)
Trina Shankar
Abhishar Sharma (Rs. 45.69 lakh)
Bappaditya Sinha, (Rs 52.09 lakh)

The action has been taken on the basis of a case registered on August 17 under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Section 153A (promoting enmity between two groups), 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code, according to ANI.

The exact details of the case are, however, not known as there has been no formal word from the Delhi Police yet.