New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate, in its order imposing penalty worth Rs 61.72 crore in total on Amnesty India International Pvt Ltd and its CEO Aakar Patel on Friday, alleged that London-based Amnesty International had sent huge amounts of foreign contribution to its Indian entities (AIIPL) between November, 2013 and June, 2018.
The order, the central agency also noted, was issued by the adjudicating authority of FEMA - a special director ranked ED official - after an end to the probe. Amnesty International sent the funds "in guise of business activities" to escape FCRA scrutiny", it alleged.
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"During the period between November 2013-June 2018, remittance which was received by AIIPL and claimed as receipt for business/management consultancy and public relation services for export of services to foreign beneficiary is nothing but amount borrowed from overseas remitter, thereby violating the FEMA provisions," it said.
Patel, meanwhile, reacted to the developments, saying they will challenge the order in a court of law. "The ED is the govt not the judiciary. we will fight it (again) and win (again) in court," he tweeted out on Friday. (with Agency inputs)
