The Enforcement Directorate (ED) stated that Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has received overseas donations of about Rs 7.08 crore till now and violated FCRA rules and the Representation of the People Act.
The Enforcement Directorate has filed an official dossier with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) against the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), alleging that Delhi’s ruling party has received more than Rs 7 crore in foreign funds in violation of FCRA rules and the Representation of the People Act.
Citing sources, a PTI report said the ED sent the dossier to MHA after it claimed to have uncovered documents and emails during its investigation into a drugs-linked money laundering case against former Punjab AAP MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira and others.
The federal probe agency, which investigates financial crimes, had arrested Khaira, currently a member of the Congress, in 2021 and later launched a money laundering probe against him.
In a detailed communique sent to the Home Ministry in August last year, the ED has underlined alleged violations by the AAP and categorising these instances as contravention of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) and The Representation of the People Act, the PTI report said, citing official sources.
Recently, the probe agency has shared fresh inputs in this case with the Union Home Ministry, stating that it has found the AAP received overseas donations of about Rs 7.08 crore till now and they allegedly “mis-declared and manipulated” the identities and nationalities of the foreign donors apart from some other details.
‘AAP violated FCRA’
The agency has 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 said.
Some fundraising events held 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 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.
(With PTI inputs)