New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate has communicated with the Union Home Ministry alleging that the Aam Aadmi Party, which governs Delhi and Punjab, has received in excess of Rs 7 crore foreign funds in violation of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), as per official sources on Monday.
The Aam Aadmi Party has refuted the accusation as “unfounded” and asserted it as “yet another plot devised by the BJP” to besmirch AAP’s reputation prior to the Lok Sabha election in Delhi and Punjab.
The federal investigating agency forwarded the correspondence subsequent to uncovering certain documents and correspondences during an investigation into money laundering associated with drug activities against former Punjab AAP MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira and others. This investigation was initiated in 2021, leading to Khaira’s arrest by the ED during that time. He is presently affiliated with the Congress party.
Official sources indicate that the ED dispatched a comprehensive communication to the Union Home Ministry in August last year, highlighting the purported infringements by AAP and classifying these occurrences as violations of the FCRA and The Representation of the People Act. It is understood that the ED recently provided some fresh insights into this matter to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
Sources reveal that the ED discovered that AAP has amassed overseas contributions totaling approximately Rs 7.08 crore to date, and they allegedly “misrepresented and manipulated” the identities and nationalities of the foreign donors, among other details.
This recent setback for AAP arises amidst the backdrop of the party being implicated in a money laundering case related to the excise policy, and Bibhav Kumar, a close aide to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, being apprehended in connection with the purported assault on the party’s Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal at the CM’s residence.
During a press briefing on Monday, senior AAP leader Atishi, accompanied by party Rajya Sabha MP Sandeep Pathak, asserted that since the BJP failed to implicate Aam Aadmi Party leaders in the liquor scandal and the Swati Maliwal incident, they are now raising this issue. “These allegations lack substance. It is an old case where it has already been proven that no illicit donations were received. As the elections draw near (in Delhi and Punjab), the BJP has concocted a fresh scheme to implicate the Aam Aadmi Party,” she alleged.
Pathak contended that AAP has already furnished all evidence to the relevant authorities in this matter and emphasized that they have maintained “transparency” in receiving any form of donations, having provided their complete records to the Election Commission of India. Delhi is scheduled to vote on May 25 in the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha elections, while Punjab’s polling will take place on June 1.
The Enforcement Directorate has also notified the MHA regarding the verified identities of the donors, their nationalities, passport numbers, donation amounts, donation modes, recipient bank account numbers, billing details, addresses, contact numbers, email addresses, donation dates and times, and the payment gateways utilized, according to the sources.
It is reported that certain fundraising events organized by AAP through its overseas volunteers in the United States and Canada between 2015 and 2016 purportedly violated the FCRA, as conveyed by the agency to the ministry.
Accusing violations in a specific instance, the ED also informed the MHA that the identities of some individuals based in Canada and their nationalities had been “concealed” in the party’s financial records to “mask” the foreign contributions being channeled to the party’s Indian bank account.
A senior official remarked that cases of FCRA violations are investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), and the home ministry can petition it to investigate these charges raised by the ED.