‘Over Rs 7 Crore Foreign Funding To AAP’: ED Writes to MHA Seeking FCRA Probe; Atishi Reacts

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) wrote to the Union Home Ministry alleging the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) received more than Rs 7 crore foreign funds in contravention of The Act of Foreign Contribution Regulation (FCRA), official sources said on Monday.

The federal probe agency attributed the findings to some documents and emails it recovered during a drugs-linked money laundering probe against former Punjab AAP MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira and some 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.

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.

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.

A senior official said cases of FCRA violations are probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the home ministry can write to it seeking an investigation into these charges made by the ED.

AAP Leader Atishi Reacts To Allegations By ED

AAP leader and Delhi Minister Atishi on Monday accused the BJP of orchestrating the allegations made by the ED. “This is not ED but BJP’s action,” she said, calling it yet another conspiracy by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to defame Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

“This is a many-year-old case, on which all answers have been given to ED, CBI, MHA and Election Commission,” Atishi added.

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