PFI, linked NGO officials meet ED to seek more time on summons

Officials of the PFI and a linked NGO on Wednesday met ED officials to seek more time for its office bearers to appear before the federal probe agency, officials said.

A group of four officials, including a legal representativeof the Kerala-based Popular Front of India and Rehab India Foundation, arrived at the Enforcement Directorate (ED) office here around 10:30 am.

"No one is appearing. We are going to meet ED officials to seek more time," a PFI official said.

The ED had issued summons to seven office-bearers of the PFIand Rehab India on Tuesday in connection with a money laundering probe against them.

They were asked to depose on Wednesday.

The development came in the backdrop of the ED finding that the recent violent protests in Uttar Pradesh and other parts of the country against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) had an alleged "financial link" with thePFIand the organisation terming it as "baseless".

"The Popular Front of India has stated it multiple times that we fully comply with the law of the land and the allegation of Rs 120 crore transferred from the Popular Front's accounts just before the CAA protests is totally baseless and the people who are levelling these allegations should prove these claims," the organisation had said in a statement issued on Monday.

ThePFIwas booked by the ED under the PMLA in 2018.

The agency was also probing remittances and withdrawal of funds from nine bank accounts of Rehab India, officials said, apart from a deposit of Rs 20 lakh from Dubai in its accounts.