France's Mediapart accuses BJP of using its report for 'misinformation'

NT Correspondent

New Delhi

French investigative journalism outlet Mediapart on Sunday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of distorting its reporting to promote a “conspiracy theory” involving the United States government, billionaire George Soros and the Congress party, reported The Wire. The BJP had on Thursday cited a Mediapart investigation into the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, or OCCRP, to allege that Soros and the US Department of State were backing a campaign to “destabilise” Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government. The OCCRP has published several investigative reports highlighting alleged financial misconduct by the Adani Group.

In a statement, Mediapart’s publisher Carine Fouteau said: “Mediapart firmly condemns the instrumentalisation of its recently published investigative article about OCCRP by the Bharatiya Janata Party of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in order to serve BJP’s political agenda and attack press freedom.” The BJP had “wrongly exploited Mediapart’s article in order to spread fake news that we never published”, The Wire quoted Fouteau as saying.