New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate has provisionally attached assets worth ₹1.54 crore belonging to Amnesty International Trust (IAIT) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, the probe agency said in a tweet on Friday.
“ED has provisionally attached assets worth Rs. 1.54 Crore in bank accounts of M/s. Indians for Amnesty International Trust (IAIT) under PMLA, 2002. With this attachment, total attachment now stands at ₹21.08 Crore,” the tweet reads.
A statement issued on Friday said the ED had initiated the money laundering investigation on the basis of an FIR registered by the CBI against Amnesty International India Pvt Ltd. (AIIPL) and others under Section 120(B) IPC, 1860 and Sections 11, 35 & 39 of FCRA, Foreign Contributions Regulatory Act, 2010.
In this case, Amnesty International India Foundation Trust (AIIFT) had been granted of permission under the FCRA, 2010 during 2011-12 for receiving foreign contributions from Amnesty International UK.
However, the same was cancelled and permission/registration has been denied, M/s Amnesty International India Pvt Ltd (AIIPL) and M/s Indians Amnesty International Trust (IAIT) were formed in the year 2013-14 and 2012-13 respectively to escape the FCRA route and carried out NGO activities in the guise of service export and FDI, the ED said.
Investigation by ED revealed that upon cancellation of FCRA Licence of M/s. Amnesty International India Foundation Trust, a new method was adopted by Amnesty entities to receive money from abroad, that Amnesty International, UK, sent ₹51.72 crore to AIIPL in the guise of export of services and foreign direct investment, however, there was no documentary proof for the alleged export such as invoices and copies of the agreement submitted during the investigation.
With this, the total attachment in the case stands at ₹21.08 crore, it added.
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