CBI gets government nod to prosecute Amnesty International India and its former chief Aakar Patel

The Centre has given the go ahead to the CBI to prosecute Amnesty International India and its former chief Aakar Patel for alleged violations of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act FCRA paving way for a special court to take cognisance of its charge sheet filed on December 31 2021 officials said on TuesdayThe CBI had sought the sanction of the government to prosecute the international human rights organisation because of mandatory clause of Section 40 of the FCRASection 40 bars any court to take cognisance of offence under the FCRA without the previous sanction of the Central Government or any officer authorised by that Government in this behalfThe charge sheet was filed on December 31 2021 by the agency in the Special CBI Court at Rouse Avenue against Patel and Amnesty International India under Section 11 read with Sections 35 and 39 of the Act after a twoyear probe into alleged violations they saidThe court will take cognisance of charges on April 18 they saidFollowing the charge sheet the agency had issued a Look Out Circular against Amnesty International India Chair Patel on the basis of which he was stopped from leaving Bengaluru Airport for the US where he was scheduled to deliver academic lectures in various universitiesA magistrate court had allowed withdrawal of the LOC but the order was overturned last Friday by a Special Judge who had asked Patel to not leave the country without its permissionThe case was registered against Amnesty International India Pvt Ltd AIIPL Indians For Amnesty International Trust IAIT Amnesty International India Foundation Trust AIIFT Amnesty International South Asia Foundation AISAF and others in November 2019It was alleged that the provision of the FCRA and IPC were contravened by the aforesaid entities by receiving foreign contributions from Amnesty International UK through AIIPL even though prior registration or permissions were denied to AIIFT and other trusts under FCRA the officials saidAfter the searches that took place postFIR Amnesty International India alleged that over the past year a pattern of harassment has emerged every time Amnesty International India stands up and speaks out against human rights violations in IndiaAmnesty International India stands in full compliance with Indian and international law Our work in India as elsewhere is to uphold and fight for universal human rights These are the same values that are enshrined in the Indian Constitution and flow from a long and rich Indian tradition of pluralism tolerance and dissent the Amnesty said in the statementAccording to a complaint filed by the Home Ministry to the CBI AIIPL is a forprofit company It was observed that the Londonbased Amnesty International worked through four companies which have been named by the CBI in the caseIt is alleged that a payment of Rs 10 crore classified as Foreign Direct Investment was remitted to Amnesty India from London office without taking the home ministrys approvalAnother Rs 26 crore has been remitted to Amnesty India primarily from the UK based entities it allegedAll such receipts have subsequently been expended on Amnestys NGO activities in India in violation of FCRA it chargedIt alleged that Amnesty made several attempts to obtain prior permission or registration under FCRA failing which it used commercial methods to evade FCRAIt further alleged that Amnesty India received funds for purposes like service contract advance income and FDI through automatic routeOut of the Rs 36 crore received Rs 10 crore were remitted as FDI Rs 26 crore as payment for consultancy services it claimedThe UKbased Amnesty International invested Rs 10 crore to AIIPL on September 24 2015The amount was classified as compulsory convertible debenture but was shown in Income Tax returns as long term borrowingWhile forwarding the complaint the home ministry directed the CBI to rope in Income Tax and Enforcement Directorate in case violations of relevant acts was found during the investigationThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever