Congress' bank account freeze to impact poll campaign: US after India's summons

New York: Following India's summoning of a senior US diplomat to express discontent over comments regarding the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Washington emphasised its support for fair, transparent, and timely legal proceedings, stating, "We don't believe anyone should oppose that."

Matthew Miller, spokesperson for the US State Department, reiterated this stance, affirming ongoing scrutiny of developments, including Kejriwal's arrest. Miller was responding to a question during the State Department briefing over India summoning Acting Deputy Chief of Mission Gloria Berbena in New Delhi on Wednesday as well as on freezing of Congress party's bank accounts.

"We are also aware of the Congress party's allegations that tax authorities have frozen some of their bank accounts in a manner that will make it challenging to effectively campaign in the upcoming elections. And we encourage fair, transparent and timely legal processes for each of these issues.

"With respect to your first question, I'm not going to talk about any private diplomatic conversations, but of course, what we have said publicly is what I just said from here, that we encourage fair, transparent, timely legal processes. We don't think anyone should object to that. We'll make the same thing clear privately," Miller said.

Ministry of External Affairs officials summoned the Berbena at its office in South Block in Delhi and lodged a strong protest against the State Department official's remarks on Kejriwal's arrest.

The meeting lasted for more than 30 minutes. Reports suggested that a US State Department official had said that Washington encouraged a fair, transparent and timely legal process for chief minister Kejriwal.

The Enforcement Directorate has arrested Kejriwal in a money laundering case linked to the excise policy scam. The case pertains to alleged corruption and money laundering in formulating and executing the Delhi government's excise policy for 2021-22 which was later scrapped.

Earlier, the Ministry of External Affairs said Delhi takes strong objection to the remarks of the spokesperson of the US State Department about certain legal proceedings in India.

"In diplomacy, states are expected to be respectful of the sovereignty and internal affairs of others. This responsibility is even more so in the case of fellow democracies. It could otherwise end up setting unhealthy precedents," the ministry said.

"India's legal processes are based on an independent judiciary which is committed to objective and timely outcomes. Casting aspersions on that is unwarranted," the MEA said.  
(With PTI inputs.)