AAP receives I-T notice over donation; says ready for probe

AVAM had alleged that AAP had last year received Rs 50 lakhs through four bogus companies that were fronts for money-laundering

The Aam Aadmi Party today said it has received a notice from the Income Tax department over the donation issue and is ready to face any probe.

AAP spokesperson Atishi Marlena said the notice was sent to the party's Patel Nagar office by the Income Tax Department.

"We are open for any probe by the Income Tax department or the Enforcement Directorate. We want this issue to be probed so that this allegations can be put to rest. But while welcoming the probe, we also want an SIT to probe political funding of all political parties and not just AAP," she said.

The notice refers to the allegations from a break-away group, AVAM, that AAP had received funding from dubious companies in March last year.

The notice states that the party had allegedly received four cheques from different companies on March 31 last year.

According to the notice dated February 9 -- a day before the counting, the IT department found that the four companies from which AAP had received its donation are prima facie not "genuine", and neither the company nor their directors are available at the address. It has also asked AAP to produce 'book of documents or accounts' before the department.

Marlena said if the companies were dubious, then there should be an independent investigation to probe the companies as well.

"We will respond to the notice as we have nothing to hide and there is no fault of ours. How does one verify the address of a company which does not exist? We had received cheques.

"It is not the job of the party to verify the addresses since it does not issue cheque books, which are mostly delivered at residential or office address by banks," said another party leader.