FDI fraud? Enforcement Directorate searches Amnesty’s Bengaluru office

BENGALURU: Enforcement Directorate officials raided the office of Amnesty International India in Bengaluru on Thursday for alleged violation of foreign direct investment (FDI) guidelines.

Sources said a team of ED officials reached Amnesty’s office at Indiranagar I Stage around 2pm and were there till late evening. Electronic gadgets, including computers and cellphones, were seized in the raid, sources said.

TOI’s calls to the rights organization’s office yielded no response.

The ED, some time ago, had frozen over a dozen bank accounts of NGO Greenpeace and its linked entities after it conducted searches at their premises in Bengaluru on charges of alleged forex violations.

‘Entity got foreign funds worth ?36 crore’

After Amnesty International India Foundation Trust was denied nod for registration under Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act 2010 by MHA, it resorted to bypass the law by floating a commercial entity in the name of Amnesty International India Pvt. Ltd. The entity has received foreign funds through commercial route to the extent of Rs 36 crore.

"Of the Rs 36 crore, Rs 10 crore was received as long-term loans. This amount was placed in FD and another Indian entity, Indians for Amnesty International Trust, had established an overdraft facility for Rs 14.25 crore with the said Rs 10 crore FD as collateral, which amounted to receipt of FDI by the trust. The remaining Rs 26 crore was received in two other bank accounts of AIIPL as ‘consultancy services’. The inward remittances received by AIIPL from overseas is in violation of FDI guidelines,” an ED statement said.