New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a prosecution complaint – the equivalent of a charge-sheet – against journalist Rana Ayyub under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), alleging that she utilised publicly raised funds to the tune of Rs2.69 crore for herself and also contravened the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA).
The federal agency filed its prosecution complaint against Ayyub before a special PMLA court in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad on October 12.
The investigative agency’s allegations were first made in February this year after it took cognisance of a September 2021 First Information Report (FIR) by the Ghaziabad police, lodged based on a complaint from Vikas Sankrityayan, the founder of an NGO called the ‘Hindu IT Cell’ and a resident of Indirapuram in Ghaziabad.
The ED on February 10 had attached over Rs 1.77 crores of bank deposits to Ayyub in connection with its probe. Thereafter, Ayyub had issued a statement contesting the ED’s allegations.
Allegations in the present chargesheet
“Rana Ayyub launched three fundraiser charity campaigns on ‘Ketto’ platform starting from April 2020 and collected funds totalling Rs 2,69,44,680,” the ED said in a statement issued on Thursday.
The campaigns, it said, were meant to raise funds for slum dwellers and farmers; relief work for Assam, Bihar and Maharashtra and allow Ayyub and her team to help those impacted by COVID-19 in India.
According to the agency, its probe found that the funds raised on the online platform were received in the accounts of Ayyub’s father and sister and subsequently transferred to her personal accounts.
“Ayyub utilised these funds to create fixed deposits of Rs 50 lakh for herself and also transferred Rs 50 lakh in a new bank account. Investigation found that only about Rs 29 lakh was used for relief work,” the ED claimed.
“In order to claim more expenses towards relief work, fake bills were submitted by Ayyub and subsequently, bank balances in the accounts of Ayyub amounting to Rs 1,77,27,704 (including FD of Rs 50 Lakh) were attached under the PMLA vide a provisional attachment order dated 04.02.2022,” it said.
The ED alleged that Ayyub “illegally” raised the Rs 2.69 crore funds and “cheated” general public donors.
“These funds were not used for the intended purpose and instead, used for the creation of assets for herself. Ayyub has tried to project these funds as untainted and thus has laundered the funds received from the general public,” the agency alleged.
“Ayyub also received these funds from foreign countries without any approval or registration from the government which is required under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, 2010,” it said.
The investigation by ED has “established that Ms Rana Ayyub had launched the aforesaid campaigns with the sole intention to cheat the general public and acquired proceeds of crime in form of FD and balances in bank accounts projecting them as untainted,” the agency said.
Ayyub’s statement
In a statement published on her social media channels, Ayyub denied the allegations, adding that the chargesheet was “yet another desperate attempt to target and intimidate me for my work”. She added that the case also represents “yet another example of the abuse of PMLA law and misuse of law enforcement agencies” to silence her, a “voice that questions and critiques the ruling regime”.
“I am confident that this abuse of process by the ED will not withstand judicial scrutiny. I too will not be deterred from performing my role as a journalist,” the journalist said.
After the ED’s allegations first surfaced, Ayyub had, on February 11 this year, issued a statement denying them and explaining each of the agency’s allegations – most of which find mention in the chargesheet – one by one.
On the matter of using her father’s and sister’s bank accounts, Ayyub had written “My personal bank account could not be used at that time as Ketto required the physical copy of my PAN card to be furnished immediately, which at that time was unavailable.” This, according to her, is why she submitted the accounts to Ketto, which she claimed had requested the details of two accounts.
As for the allegations under the FCRA, Ayyub had said that she never received money from foreign donors, Ketto did, and that she had instructed Ketto to return the funds to foreign donors, using only funds received from within India for the relief efforts.
“…[M]y bank statements…demonstrate that I received no foreign donations, and in any event, all foreign donations received by Ketto were returned to the donors by Ketto,” her statement read.
Ayyub’s statement also gave a breakdown of how the Rs 2.69 crore was used. She noted that she used Rs 40 lakh for the relief work she personally did and reached an agreement with Save The Children Foundation to donate Rs 90 lakh towards the paediatrics department of Tilak Hospital in New Delhi.
However, she was later told by the foundation that the South Delhi Municipal Corporation had refused to accept the donation and the cheque for Rs 90 lakh was returned to her. In order to ensure that the funds were utilised, she said, she donated Rs 74.50 lakhs to the CM CARES Fund of Maharashtra and to the PM CARES Fund.
Her final breakdown, according to the statement, was, “…out of the total of INR. 2.69 Crores (about 26.9 million) received, a total of 1 Crore, 14 lakhs and 50 thousand rupees [40 lakhs + 74.50 lakhs] was utilized for relief work as explained above. Another 1 Crore 5 lakhs rupees (10.05 million) was levied and collected as tax by the Income Tax Department. This accounts for 2 Crore 19 lakhs and 50 thousand rupees (20.19 million) out of the total funds raised.”
The remaining Rs50 lakh or so, which she said was earmarked to set up a field hospital to treat COVID-19, lay in a fixed deposit which was frozen by the Income Tax Department, but was later unfrozen, she wrote in her statement. The Wire
