NewsClick funding by Chinese not isolated incident, latter’s infiltration in India’s financial system a big concern

New Delhi: An investigative report by the New York Times created a major stir in Indian political corridors, with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) launching a scathing attack on the Left liberals and Congress party for allegedly colluding with Chinese propaganda machinery and also accused it of aiding foreign powers in pushing forward their agenda in the country.

BJP raised the matter in Parliament and accused the Congress of encouraging Chinese propaganda dissemination in the country via NewClick website.

BJP MP Nishikant Dubey demanded that the government investigate the beneficiaries of the funding while Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur later in a press conference alleged that China, NewsClick website and the Congress are linked to an “anti-India umbilical cord”.

The NYT report in its report concluded that Neville Roy Singham, an American millionaire was peddling Chinese agenda in various countries including India. His company was found to a sponsor of the news website. The ED probe established that his company financed the Indian news portal NewsClick, with an objective to peddle the propaganda by Chinese machinery.

Though, Congress refrained from returning fire on the issue, NewsClick issued a statement refuting the charges as ‘baseless & unwarranted.’

However, reports suggest that motivated funding of NewsClick by American millionaire in collusion with Chinese propaganda machinery is just the tip of iceberg. A host of Chinese instruments are reported to have infiltrated into India’s financial system.

In fact, a lot many of them have been unearthed & busted by Indian investigative agencies for running scams & extortion rackets, under the garb of loan apps, non-banking financial companies (NBFCs). A couple of shady companies, with origins in China, have been found to be running as investment companies and also enjoying considerable amount of common people as investors.

The ED has busted many such secret operations & rackets, allegedly run by Chinese agents. They didn’t spring up on their own but got propped up over the years with help of political patronage.

Among the web of illegal Chinese operations that the ED unearthed included shady dealings in crypto currencies. ED found that loan apps saw wide money laundering that ultimately got routed to China. The agency found that at least 6 private agencies transferred money in form of crypto currency to 4 Chinese entities.

A leading portal, citing ED probe, reports that “Chinese handlers used KYC documents of BPO employees or unemployed youth to register new companies by appointing them as directors and subscribers of the memorandum of association with the active assistance of Indian professionals like chartered accountants.”