The MEA summoned acting deputy chief of mission Gloria Berbena after a US state department official’s remarks on Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest.
Hours after India summoned a senior US diplomat to lodge a protest over comments on the arrest of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, US state department spokesperson Matthew Miller on Wednesday reiterated that Washington encourages fair, transparent, timely legal processes and “we don’t think anyone should object to that”.
“We continue to follow these actions closely, including the arrest of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal,” Matthew Miller said while responding to a question during the state department briefing over India summoning acting deputy chief of mission Gloria Berbena in New Delhi earlier in the day. Miller also responded to a question on the freezing of the 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,” he said.
#WATCH | On India summons US diplomat over comments on Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest and freezing of Congress bank accounts, US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller says, “We continue to follow these actions closely, including the arrest of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal.… pic.twitter.com/dWSDumsZXf
— ANI (@ANI) March 27, 2024
However, Miller also denied talking about any private diplomatic conversations, and said, “With respect to your first question, I am 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.”
The ministry of external affairs summoned Gloria Berbena at its office in South Block in Delhi and lodged a strong protest against a US state department official’s remarks on Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in a money-laundering case linked to now-scrapped Delhi excise policy.
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.