Shanghai-based investor Neville Roy Singham, named as an accused in the case against the newsportal NewsClick, has denied charges levelled against him by the Delhi police calling them “defamatory” and containing “factual errors.” The Delhi police accused NewsClick of spreading Chinese propaganda in India.
The businessman expressed his dissatisfaction against the New York Times (NYT) article, which was used as a basis to arrest Prabir Purkayastha, the editor of NewsClick, under the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act law, and harass several journalists and staff associated with it.
The FIR also names activist Gautam Navlakha, who is also accused in the Bhima Koregaon case apart from Singham. Singham said that the FIR against him was “damaging” to him and many others. “The language used in the FIR strongly suggests that its claims were influenced by misinformation from the NYT article,” Singham said in his statement.
In the FIR, the Delhi police claimed that Singham, a resident of Shanghai, China, was an active member of the propaganda department of the Communist Party of China, and he infused foreign funds in India through a complex web of several entities.
“I am not now and have never been a member of the Communist Party of China. In fact, Chinese citizens are the only people eligible for membership, a requirement of the constitution adopted by the 8th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 1956,” Singham said.
Purkayastha, Singham and Navlakha have been booked under sections 13, 16, 17, 18, 22 (c) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, and section 153 (promoting enmity between groups) and 120 (b) (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.
In its FIR, the Delhi police alleged that Purkayastha and Navlakha conspired to “create a narrative globally and domestically” that Arunachal Pradesh and Kashmir were disputed territories. Police had also alleged their involvement in the farmers’ protest and discrediting the Indian government’s effort to contain the COVID-19 situation.
In a detailed statement, Singham clarified about his association with China, the allegations of infusing illegal funds in India, and his philanthropic activities.
Rejecting allegations of fraudulent infusion of funds through a “complex web of several entities” as mentioned in the FIR and in the NYT article, he said, “I also reject any innuendo that I violate any Indian or US law by working with banned organisations. There is just no proof of such accusations because they are untrue. Having run a multinational company (ThoughtWorks) for many years, I learned the vital importance of carefully following the laws of all the countries in which we conducted business.”
He said that his record as chairman in this period would speak for itself. “International philanthropy is a complex area involving deep knowledge of many laws and tax systems in the US and abroad. It requires expert advice and donor structures developed by top legal, tax, and accounting firms. I have acquired and followed such advice throughout my philanthropic efforts,” he said.
Police have also alleged that Singham, NewsClick editor Prabir Purkayastha, writer Geeta Hariharan, and lawyer Gautam Bhatia conspired to create a Legal Community Network in India to campaign for and put up “spirited defence” of legal cases against Chinese companies Xiaomi and Vivo.
Responding to this, Singham said, “I was shocked to see the absurd attempt to connect me to the Chinese telecom companies, Xiaomi and Vivo, in the FIR. I have no knowledge of their activities in India. I have never had contact with, directly or indirectly received funding from, nor worked on behalf of these companies.” He also clarified that though he is residing in Shanghai, he is a citizen of the United States of America.
Calling out the NYT article, which has led to the crackdown against journalists associated with NewsClick, Singham claimed that the paper intentionally chose not to publish all the factual rebuttals that he provided to them on July 22, 2023, prior to their publication date. “The NYT has done a great disservice to the cause of press freedom,” he said.
Singham, who founded ThoughtWorks, a technology consulting company, said that he donated a significant amount of money from the sale of his company in 2017, to several charities.
Speaking about his political beliefs, he said, “The probity and transparency of my political beliefs span many decades, beginning with my teenage years. Like many in my generation, I could not accept the discrepancy between the wealth of a few versus the misery of millions. In those formative years, I began to believe that everyone, including those born with any type of privilege, should try to spend at least part of their life building a world based on the dignity of the common people.”
“I decided that at my age and with my extreme privilege, the best thing I could do was to give away most of my money in my lifetime. Like most philanthropists with a high net worth, I chose to give money to organisations and causes whose work I generally like, respect, and admire. These organisations have, in turn, donated money to, or invested funds in, various US and foreign nonprofits…”