ED alleges AAP received Rs 7.08 crore in foreign funds, violated FCRA

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has alleged that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) received Rs 7.08 crore in foreign funds between 2014 and 2022, breaching the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), the Representation of People Act (RPA), and the Indian Penal Code (IPC). This revelation was disclosed to the Union Home Ministry by the probe agency, reported India Today.

According to the ED’s dossier, the funds were sourced from various donors in countries including the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, and Oman.

The ED’s investigation claims to have unearthed several irregularities in the collection of foreign funds by AAP and its members. Allegations include the diversion of funds for personal gains, notably during a fundraising event in Canada in 2016, implicating AAP MLA Durgesh Pathak.

Documentation retrieved during the probe allegedly corroborates these accusations, with emails exchanged among AAP volunteers and functionaries such as Aniket Saxena, Kumar Vishwas, Kapil Bhardwaj, and Durgesh Pathak.

The investigation suggests that funds were amassed through campaigns in the US and Canada, with donors’ identities concealed in AAP’s accounts to bypass FCRA restrictions on foreign donations to political parties.

The probe further contends that multiple donors employed the same passport numbers, email IDs, mobile numbers, and credit cards to donate to AAP. The ED has furnished detailed findings, including donor names, countries of origin, passport numbers, amounts donated, modes of donation, and recipient bank account numbers, to the Union Home Ministry.

Furthermore, the ED investigations uncovered donations from Canadian nationals using their email IDs and mobile numbers, totalling Rs 51.15 lakh. However, the ED alleges that AAP concealed the identities of these donors, violating FCRA and the Representation of People Act.

“Instead, different names have been mentioned against these donations and this was intentionally done by AAP to hide donations by foreign nationals, which violates Section 3 of FCRA, 2010 and Section 298 of Representation of People Act 1951,” ED stated.

“The amount was raised by concealing, misdeclaring and manipulating the identities and nationalities of foreign donors as well as several other facts relating to foreign donations," the probe agency added.

The ED’s scrutiny also extends to AAP’s establishment of AAP Overseas India, which reportedly enlisted volunteers in the US, Canada, and Australia to mobilise foreign funds. The agency claims a target of Rs 50 crore in overseas donations was set for volunteers in 2016.

The FCRA breaches and purported irregularities in foreign funding emerged during an investigation into a drug smuggling case in Punjab’s Fazilka district. This led to a special court summoning former AAP MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira to face trial.

During a fundraising event organised by AAP in Canada in 2016, an email exchange occurred between Aniket Saxena, coordinator of AAP Overseas India, and Kumar Vishwas, then convenor of AAP Overseas India.

According to the ED, the conversation between them revealed that Durgesh Pathak and Kapil Bhardwaj, both AAP members at the time, instructed Aniket to transfer the sum of 29,000 Canadian dollars, collected during a fundraising programme, directly to Durgesh Pathak and Kapil Bhardwaj via Bhagwant Toor.

At an event organised by AAP in Toronto on November 22, 2015, attended by Durgesh Pathak, a sum of 15,000 Canadian dollars was raised. Handwritten raw data sheets, containing details of donors and their respective contributions, were sent by party volunteers in Canada to AAP Overseas India through email.

The ED also alleged that upon investigation, it was found that the identities of these donors, as recorded in the handwritten data sheets, did not match with the official records provided by AAP.

During another AAP event in Toronto on January 30, 2016, a total sum of 11,786 Canadian dollars was collected. Of this amount, 3,821 Canadian dollars were used to cover event expenses, said the probe agency.

“An amount of 7,955 Canadian dollars was sent to AAP in their IDBI bank account using the passports of 11 AAP Canada volunteers [Indian citizens] even though the said donation was claimed to be made by more than 200 people who had attended that event,” the ED has alleged.