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ED searches Amnesty office in Bengaluru for Rs 36-crore 'illegal remittances'

  •   Fri, Oct 26 2018 07:49:40 AM

Bengaluru, Oct 26 (IANS): The Enforcement Directorate (ED) searched the human rights body Amnesty International India's headquarters in Bengaluru for remittances from abroad allegedly in violation of FDI guidelines, said an official on Thursday.

"We have been conducting searches at Amnesty's office in Bengaluru and its Director's (Aakar Patel) residence in the city since afternoon," an ED source told IANS from New Delhi.

In a statement later, the economic intelligence agency (ED) said Amnesty had received Rs 36-crore foreign funds till date from overseas in violation of the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) guidelines.

"The Amnesty International India Foundation Trust (AIIFT) resorted to bypass the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, 2010 (FCRA) by floating commercial entity in the name of Amnesty International India Pvt Ltd (AIIPL) after the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) denied permission for its registration," said the Directorate in the statement.

Of the Rs 36 crore received through commercial route, Rs 10 crore was placed in FD (fixed deposit) as it is a long-term loan.

"The NGO's another entity - Indians for Amnesty International Trust (IAIT) had opened an overdraft facility for Rs 14.25 crore by keeping the Rs 10-crore FD as collateral," noted the statement.

The remaining Rs 26 crore was received in two other bank accounts of AIIPL as aconsultancy services'.

"Searches were conducted at Amnesty's Bengaluru office in this background and further investigation is in progress,a added the statement.

An Amnesty official confirmed the search, which began on Thursday afternoon.

"The search has been on since afternoon," the official told IANS later.
  

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Comment on this article

  • Vincent Rodrigues, Katapadi/Bangalore

    Fri, Oct 26 2018

    ED need to initiate this kind of raids all over the country who are involved in illegal remittances

    DisAgree Agree [9] Reply Report Abuse

  • NN, NN

    Fri, Oct 26 2018

    First of all, the ED has to investigate whether or not these entities have anything to do with real Amnesty International - a Human Rights organization. Investigation should be conducted simultaneously to see the trail of money from overseas.

    DisAgree Agree [10] Reply Report Abuse

  • Jossey Saldanha, Mumbai

    Fri, Oct 26 2018

    Why only Minorities ...

    DisAgree [17] Agree [2] Reply Report Abuse

  • Rathan, Mangalore

    Fri, Oct 26 2018

    How a NGO can start commercial activities that too in a private capacity
    First find out who all r trustees in all these so called NGO trusts as well as sister organisation of these trusts

    DisAgree [1] Agree [13] Reply Report Abuse

  • Jenifer, Mangalore

    Fri, Oct 26 2018

    That you should ask the Modi Govt. that randomly closed down NGOs run by Christian members, saying that the funds received by such organizations are used for terror activities.

    Is Akar Patel a Christian, or doesn't his firm come under the category of NGOs ? Why scrutiny was not made against his organization and operations curtailed like other communities' firms shut down ?

    Go, shut down Mother Theresa's shelter homes, and give it to men who raped the inmates. Nuns if claim the medical expenses from foster parents, it becomes sale. What is it called when men running shelter homes supplied inmates to politicians and high profile individuals ?

    DisAgree [21] Agree [8] Reply Report Abuse

  • VM, MANGALORE

    Fri, Oct 26 2018

    Salil Shetty was the Secretary General of Amnesty International from 2010 – 2018. Amnesty International is a london based organization and The stated mission of the organization is to campaign for "a world in which every person enjoys all of the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights instruments.
    Unfortunately our present government does not want its human rights violations to be made public so they try their best to clamp down on such organizations by banning them and harassing them.

    DisAgree [12] Agree [4] Reply Report Abuse


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Title: ED searches Amnesty office in Bengaluru for Rs 36-crore 'illegal remittances'



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