Tag: evidence

Sisodia involved in ‘large-scale destruction of digital evidence’: ED claims

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New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate has claimed before a Delhi court that AAP leader and former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia was involved in “large-scale destruction of digital evidence to impede investigation” into the Delhi excise policy case and had changed and destroyed 14 phones.
In its remand application, seeking an extension of Sisodia’s custody, the agency on Friday said the major recommendations that ultimately formed the basis for the Excise Policy 2021-22, including fixing of 12 per cent profit margin for wholesalers, were not decided in the group of ministers (GoM) meetings and instead “imported from external sources”.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had arrested Sisodia on March 9 in the Tihar jail, where he was lodged in connection with a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) case about alleged corruption in the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped policy. The CBI had arrested him on February 26.
The ED is probing money laundering charges against the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader.
The application before Special Judge M K Nagapal, who extended Sisodia’s custody by five days, also claimed that the investigation conducted so far indicated that Sisodia is “actually involved in the activity connected to the acquisition, possession and use of proceeds of crime” and “therefore guilty of the offence of money laundering”.
In its application, the ED had sought a seven-day extension in Sisodia’s custody.
The agency alleged that Sisodia had withheld information which is in his “exclusive knowledge” and “extremely relevant to the investigation”.
The facts which emerged after Sisodia’s custodial interrogation included he being “involved in large scale destruction of digital evidence to impede the investigation and to erase evidence”, the application said.

It alleged that during the one-year period of the liquor scam, Sisodia changed or destroyed 14 phones or IMEIs, of which only one phone could be recovered by the CBI and two were produced during interrogation by the ED.
Sisodia changed or destroyed most of these phones right from the day of the complaint by the Delhi lieutenant governor (LG) to the CBI, which was also reported by the media on July 22 last year, the application claimed.
When questioned about the reason for changing a phone on July 22 last year, Sisodia said the phone was damaged, but he was unable to answer regarding what he had done with the broken or damaged phone, it claimed.
“This conclusion of the destruction of mobile phones is based on the fact that these 11 mobile phones or IMEls were not recovered during intensive searches conducted by central investigative agencies or during interrogation,” the ED said.
Sisodia had also used phones purchased in the name of other people so that he had the excuse that the phones were not purchased by him and belonged to others, the application claimed.
“The large-scale destruction of digital evidence was intentionally made to destroy evidence of his involvement in the offence of money laundering by destroying evidence of handling of proceeds of crime, money trail as well as involvement or connection in the process or activities connected with proceeds of crime for the commissioning of the offence of money laundering,” it said.
The application alleged that the “pro-active destruction of evidence” led to the sole inference that Sisodia made “conscious efforts to destroy evidence of the offence of money laundering”.
Claiming that the fixing of a 12 per cent profit margin for wholesalers was made in collusion with a “south group”, the application said from the statements of various officials of the excise department and other material evidence it was found that the group of ministers (GoM) meetings were “only a sham and there was no discussion or decision making in these GoM meetings”.
The “south group” is an alleged liquor cartel that paid kickbacks amounting to about Rs 100 crore to the AAP to gain a larger share of the market in the national capital under the now-scrapped policy 2020-21.
The “south group”, according to the ED, comprises Sarath Reddy (promoter of Aurobindo Pharma), Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy (YSR Congress MP from Ongole in Andhra Pradesh), his son Raghav Magunta, K Kavitha, BRS leader and daughter of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, and others.
“The major recommendations presented in the GoM report (including fixing of 12 per cent commission) were neither discussed nor decided in these so-called GoM meetings. These recommendations which ultimately formed the basis for the excise policy 2021-22 were imported from external sources which Manish Sisodia has not revealed so far,” the application alleged.
It claimed that according to excise department officials, who were interrogated during Sisodia’s custody and also confronted with him, the department did not participate in the decision-making or in the actual drafting of the GoM report.
“The changes in the draft GoM report (from 5 per cent to 12 per cent) which is overlapping with the stay of the members or representatives of the south group…during which period a print was taken at the hotel and a document was handed over by Manish Sisodia is clear proof of the collusion with south group to increase the profit margin of wholesalers from 5 per cent to 12 per cent,” the application claimed.
It alleged that two days prior to the GoM submitting its report to the council of ministers, certain parts of the final GoM report were found in the mobile phones of “south group” members.
It said during Sisodia’s interrogation, he was confronted with various individuals and besides extracting his mobile phone data, the agency also took his iCloud and email dump.
The mail dump contained 1.23 lakh mails and the same was being analysed and needed to be confronted with Sisodia, the application said.
It said other “crucial information” was also revealed during Sisodia’s custody and in view of the findings, the ED had summoned four people to confront the AAP leader with — former excise commissioner Rahul Singh, C Aravind, the then secretary to the deputy chief minister, Amit Arora and Dinesh Arora. Former excise commissioner Rahul Singh is not an accused in the case.
Earlier, the present court had sent Sisodia to one week ED custody on March 10.
(Except for the headline, the story has not been edited by Siasat staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 18, 2023
Pentagon tells Republicans ‘no evidence’ that weapons for Ukraine are being diverted

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“What we’re not seeing is any evidence of significant diversion,” Kahl told lawmakers. “Our assessment is if some of these systems have been diverted it’s by Russians who have captured things on the battlefield, which always happens, but that there’s no evidence the Ukrainians are diverting it to the black market.”
He added that Ukraine is “clearly using what we are providing them … to maximum effect” and are requesting more weapons.
At the same time, Kahl pushed back on bipartisan calls to supply Ukraine with F-16 fighters, the latest flashpoint between President Joe Biden and Congress on the conflict.
The Armed Services session is the first such public hearing devoted to U.S. military support to Ukraine. Armed Services Chair Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) wants to intensify high-level public oversight of aid to show that weapons and equipment are going where they’re intended.
Top Democrats and Republicans are aiming to preserve the bipartisan bloc that’s successfully enacted more than $100 billion in emergency aid since Russia launched its full-tilt invasion in February 2022 in a freshly split Congress.
Pentagon Inspector General Robert Storch was pressed early by Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) on whether his office has found instances of sensitive weapons, such as Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, being lost or diverted.
“We have not substantiated any such instances,” Storch said.
Democrat John Garamendi of California later pressed Storch: “You’ve not found problems of any great significance, is that correct?”

“A lot of these audits and evaluations are pending, but with regard to the areas I’ve mentioned, we have limited findings, the department has been addressing them, and we’re going to continue to look at the issue,” Storch said. “So yes, that’s correct.”
Republicans who now control the House are contending with a vocal minority that opposes further funding for Ukraine. Proponents of more aid are also navigating a potentially austere funding atmosphere as conservatives push for spending cuts in the coming budget cycle.
Rogers and other defense leaders argue the Pentagon must explain publicly how it tracks equipment as part of that effort.
Kahl told lawmakers that Ukrainian officials provide the Pentagon with information on their inventories and transfer logs. The Defense Department has provided Ukrainians with handheld scanners to send data back to the U.S. Defense officials based at the U.S. embassy in Kyiv have also made site visits.
“They have seen no signs of diversion or that the Ukrainians are not following procedure,” Kahl said.
Some lawmakers also dinged the administration for refusing to send Ukraine weapons it has requested, such as longer-range artillery or U.S.-made warplanes. Rogers slammed Biden for being “overly worried” that sending certain weapons would be viewed as escalatory and said holding back has “only prolonged the war.”
Kahl later pushed back, arguing the administration weighs what weapons to send based on Ukraine’s needs and potential impact on U.S. military readiness rather than concerns over escalation.
He faced bipartisan criticism over Biden’s refusal to immediately send F-16s to Ukraine. Biden said last week that Ukraine “doesn’t need F-16s now.”
The Pentagon policy chief said the most optimistic timeline for delivering older F-16s would be “about 18 months” while producing newer F-16s would take three to six years to deliver.
“It is a priority for the Ukrainians, but it’s not one of their top three priorities,” Kahl said in an exchange with Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.). “Their top priorities are air defense systems … artillery and fires, which we’ve talked about, and armor and mechanized systems.”
Backers of sending Ukraine the Lockheed Martin F-16s or similar jets, led by Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine), released an updated letter on Tuesday to Biden with additional signatures. Sixteen lawmakers from both parties have now signed the letter, first reported by POLITICO.
The panel’s top Democrat, Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, defended the administration. He argued the “best case scenario” would see some F-16s in Ukraine within eight months to a year.
“We looked at that and we determined that is not a wise use of the resources that are necessary to win the fight,” Smith said.
“No blank check means no blank check,” he said. “It means we don’t just send everything that people ask for in the blink of an eye without thinking about it.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

March 1, 2023
The US says it has “new evidence” that the covid came from a Wuhan laboratory

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A toilet performs a covid test on a man on a street in Wuhan at the beginning of the pandemic / EFE
Washington maintains that the virus developed from an accidental escape, which comes to support conspiracy theories
Like all the events that have convulsed the world, the origin of the covid will forever be a mystery that unleashes all kinds of conspiracy theories. The landing of man on the Moon, the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the fall of the Twin Towers… No matter how much we know, there will always be room for speculation and incre
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#evidence #covid #Wuhan #laboratory
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( With inputs from : pledgetimes.com )

February 28, 2023
No evidence China will side with Russia in war with Ukraine: Biden

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Washington: There is no evidence that China would side with Russia in its war against Ukraine, US President Joe Biden has said.
“There’s no evidence of that so far,” Biden told reporters on Friday when asked if he is worried that China will side with Russia in the ongoing war.
Biden said that he had a long conversation with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping about this in the summer.
“There’s no evidence he’s done it yet,” said the US President.
The Pentagon told reporters that it has not seen China supplying lethal aid to Russia.
Pentagon’s Press Secretary Air Force Brigadier General Pat Ryder said that China, which clearly has advanced capabilities, munitions, has publicly declared its neutrality, to now take a side and essentially say “we want to be in the camp that’s looking to extinguish Ukraine as a nation”.
US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield told MSNBC in an interview that the Biden Administration has made it clear to the Chinese that it should not get involved in this war in the sense of providing lethal weapons to the Russians.
They have been told that it would be a game changer and it would be something the US would have serious concerns about.

“They’ve not done that so far, and we hope that the message to them gets through,” she said.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 25, 2023
Giving Sisodia time will allow him to tamper with evidence: Congress

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New Delhi: Congress’ Delhi unit President Chaudhary Anil Kumar on Sunday said that it was shocking that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has allowed Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia to evade its summons for questioning on his claim that he was busy with the Budget.
He alleged that giving one week time will allow Sisodia to tamper with evidence, adding that the CBI has reportedly collected damning evidence against him in the multi crores scam after questioning his Personal Secretary and he should not have been allowed to evade questioning.
“Why did the Kejriwal Government scrap the new liquor policy as soon as the Lt. Governor ordered a probe into the liquor scam on a Delhi Congress complaint if there was no corruption and irregularities in the implementation of the revised liquor policy in which Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is the mastermind?” Anil Kumar asked.
If Minister Satyender Jain could be denied bail for a money laundering case for nearly a year, how could the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate allow Sisodia to roam freely as he has committed fraud to the tune of thousands of crores, he added.
The Congress has demanded Sisodia resign or else he should be sacked as Minister till he gets a clean chit.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 20, 2023
Most health claims on formula milk ‘not backed by evidence’

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Most health claims on formula milk products have little or no supporting evidence, researchers have said, prompting calls for stricter marketing rules to be introduced worldwide.
Millions of parents use formula milk in what has become a multibillion-dollar global industry. But a study published in the BMJ has found most health and nutritional claims about the products appear to be backed by little or no high-quality scientific evidence.
“The wide range of health and nutrition claims made by infant formula products are often not backed by scientific references,” said Dr Ka Yan Cheung and Loukia Petrou, the joint first co-authors of the study. “When they are, the evidence is often weak and biased.”
Cheung and Petrou, from Imperial College London, added: “We also found that many ingredients were linked to several claims, and some claims were linked to multiple ingredients. It’s essential that the industry provides accurate and reliable information to consumers, rather than using vague or unsupported claims as marketing tools.”
The study found that existing marketing curbs on formula milk are failing to stop companies from using controversial claims to promote their products. Rules governing the way the products are sold to customers are “failing to effectively limit the use of claims in marketing of breast milk substitutes”, it found.
The research examined formula products across 15 different countries and found that most products carried at least one health or nutrition claim. The authors highlighted how such claims are controversial and are banned in some countries.
They assessed how the products were marketed across Australia, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, the UK, and the US. The team examined 814 infant formula products. The products carried an average of two claims each.
The researchers found that the most common claim types were “helps/supports development of brain and/or eyes and/or nervous system”; “strengthens/supports a healthy immune system”; and “helps/supports growth and development”.

When references were provided, 56% reported findings of clinical trials while the rest were reviews, opinion pieces or other types of research including animal studies, the BMJ reported. Only 14% of citations that referred to clinical trials were prospectively registered, and 90% of claims that cited registered clinical trials carried a high risk of bias.
The BMJ added that 88% of registered trials had authors who either had received formula industry funding or were directly affiliated with industry.
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“Multiple ingredients were claimed to achieve similar health or nutrition effects, multiple claims were made for the same ingredient type, most products did not provide scientific references to support claims, and referenced claims were not supported by robust clinical trial evidence,” the authors said.
They concluded: “Despite previous attempts to change the landscape of infant formula marketing … progress in regulating infant formula claims is slow. Transparency is still lacking about health and nutrition claims linked to infant formula. We have identified a high prevalence of claims on infant formula products in multiple countries that seem to have little or no scientific substantiation.”
Dr Daniel Munblit and Dr Robert Boyle, senior co-authors for the study from Imperial, added: “There is a clear need for greater regulation and oversight to ensure that these claims are supported by sound scientific evidence and to protect the health and wellbeing of our youngest and most vulnerable populations.”
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( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )

February 16, 2023