ED Imposes Penalties on Amnesty India, Its Former CEO Aakar Patel Under FEMA

The central agency imposed a penalty of Rs 51.72 crore on Amnesty India and Rs 10 crore on Patel.

Aakar Patel.

(Photo: The Quint)

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday, 8 July, imposed penalties of Rs 51.72 crore and Rs 10 crore on Amnesty India and its former CEO Aakar Patel, respectively, for contravention of the foreign exchange law.

The agency said that it imposed the penalties after receiving information that Amnesty International had been allegedly remitting a massive amount of foreign contributions through its Indian entities through the route of Foreign Direct Investment to evade the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) and expand its activities in the country.

This was despite the rejection of prior registration or permissions to Amnesty International India Foundation Trust by the Home Ministry with regard to the FCRA, the ED said, as per news agency PTI.

The agency also said that a show-cause notice of the penalties were imposed as the money received was in violation of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).

In November last year, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had registered a case against Amnesty International following a complaint lodged by the Home Ministry for alleged violation of the provision of the FCRA and the Indian Penal Code.

Patel had also been stopped from leaving India at the Bengaluru Airport in April this year after a Look Out Circular (LOC) was issued against him by the CBI in connection with the case.

The central agency had also filed a case in 2019 over alleged financial irregularities in 2019 against the NGO.

(With inputs from PTI.)