ED uncovers Rs.7.08 cr foreign donation ‘scam’ violating FCRA rules
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a letter to the Union Home Ministry, has said that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) received more than Rs.7 crore foreign funds in contravention of The Act of Foreign Contribution Regulation (FCRA).
The ED busted this information during a money laundering investigation related to drugs, involving former Punjab AAP MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira and others. Khaira was arrested by the ED in 2021 shortly after a probe was launched into the case. He has since joined the Congress party.
Some fundraising events hosted by the AAP through its overseas wing volunteers in the USA and Canada between 2015 and 2016 are reported to have been made in alleged violation of the FCRA, the agency further told the ministry.
Alleging violations in a particular instance, the ED also informed the MHA that the names of some Canada-based people and their nationalities had been “concealed” in the party’s financial records to “hide” the foreign donations being made to the party into its Indian bank account.
Quoting sources, a PTI report said that the ED found that the AAP received overseas donations of about Rs.7.08 crore and they allegedly “mis-declared and manipulated” the identities and nationalities of the foreign donors apart from some other details.
The probe agency also informed the MHA about the verified names of the donors, their nationalities, passport numbers, amount donated, mode of donation and bank account number of the receiver, billing name, address, phone numbers, email, time and the date of donation and payment gateway used, the sources added.
In August last year, the agency sent a detailed communication to the Union home ministry, highlighting the alleged violations by AAP and categorizing them as contraventions of the FCRA and The Representation of the People Act.
For all the latest updates, download PGurus App.
Rs. 7 crores is nothing….. Judges will reject ED case…& penalize ED for rising frivolous cases.