ED Flags AAP's Rs 7 Crore Foreign Funds Violation

The Enforcement Directorate has accused the Aam Aadmi Party of receiving over Rs 7 crore in foreign funds, violating FCRA norms. The allegations come after a money laundering probe linked to former Punjab AAP MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira. The Union Home Ministry has been notified of these violations.

The Enforcement Directorate has written to the Union Home Ministry alleging the Aam Aadmi Party, which rules Delhi and Punjab, has received more than Rs 7 crore foreign funds in contravention of the FCRA, official sources said Monday.

The federal probe agency sent the communication after it recovered some documents and emails during a drugs-linked money laundering probe against former Punjab AAP MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira and some others. The probe was launched in 2021 and Khaira was arrested by the ED that year. He is now with the Congress party.

Official sources said the ED had sent a detailed communication to the Union Home Ministry in August last year, underlining the alleged violations by the AAP and categorising these instances as contravention of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) and The Representation of the People Act.

It is understood that the ED recently shared some fresh inputs in this case with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

Sources said the ED found the AAP received overseas donations of about Rs 7.08 crore till now and they allegedly ''mis-declared and manipulated'' the identities and nationalities of the foreign donors apart from some other details.

The agency has also informed the MHA about the verified names of the donors, their nationalities, passport numbers, amount donated, mode of donation and bank account number of the receiver, billing name, address, phone numbers, email, time and the date of donation and payment gateway used, the sources said.

Some fundraising events held by the AAP through its overseas wing volunteers in the USA and Canada between 2015 and 2016 are reported to have been made in alleged violation of the FCRA, the agency told the ministry.

Alleging violations in a particular instance, the ED also informed the MHA that the names of some Canada-based people and their nationalities had been ''concealed'' in the party's financial records to ''hide'' the foreign donations being made to the party into its Indian bank account.

A senior official said cases of FCRA violations are probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the home ministry can write to it seeking an investigation into these charges made by the ED.