ED attaches assets worth Rs 1.54 crore of Amnesty International Trust

The overdraft facility was used by IAIT for Amnesty India’s NGO activities including salary and administrative and operational expenses.
Enforcement Directorate
Enforcement Directorate

BENGALURU: The Directorate of Enforcement has provisionally attached assets worth Rs 1.54 crore in bank accounts of Indians for Amnesty International Trust (IAIT) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. “With the present attachment, total attachment in the case stands at Rs 21.08 crore,” the agency stated on Friday.

The Central enforcement agency said that they had initiated money laundering investigation on the basis of an FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Economic Offences Unit (EOU) -IV, New Delhi, against Amnesty International India Pvt Ltd (AIIPL) and others under Section 120(B) for criminal conspiracy of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Sections 11, 35 & 39 of the Foreign Contributions Regulatory Act (FCRA).

“In this case, Amnesty International India Foundation Trust (AIIFT) was granted permission under the FCRA during 2011-12 for receiving foreign contributions from Amnesty International UK. However, the same was cancelled and permission/registration has been denied. AIIPL and IAIT were formed in 2013-14 and 2012-13 respectively to escape the FCRA route and carried out NGO activities in the guise of service export and FDI,” the ED further stated.

Investigation by the agency has revealed that upon cancellation of FCRA licence of AIIFT, a new method was adopted by Amnesty entities to receive money from abroad, that, Amnesty International, UK sent Rs 51.72 crore to AIIPL in the guise of export of services and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). However, there was no documentary proof for the alleged export such as invoices and copies of the agreement submitted during the investigation, the ED added.

“It is prima facie found that Amnesty International (UK) invested in AIIPL in the form of Compulsory Convertible Debentures. Subsequently, another Indian entity, IAIT established an overdraft facility for Rs 14.25 crore keeping the Rs 10 crore FD of AIIPL as collateral. The overdraft facility was used by IAIT for Amnesty India’s NGO activities including salary and administrative and operational expenses. Therefore, the FDI received by AIIPL are being used by the Indians for Amnesty International Trust, Bengaluru to carry out its NGO activities. It is seen that there is a layering of remittances received by AIIPL, a company into IAIT, a charitable trust,” the ED concluded.

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