ED files charge sheet against journalist Rana Ayyub; says she used public funds for herself

The Enforcement Directorate ED has filed a charge sheet against journalist Rana Ayyub under the antimoney laundering law alleging that she utilised publicly raised funds of Rs 269 crore for herself and also contravened the foreign contribution lawThe federal agency filed its prosecution complaint against Ayyub before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act PMLA court in Ghaziabad Uttar Pradesh on October 12Rana Ayyub launched three fundraiser charity campaigns on Ketto platform starting from April 2020 and collected funds amounting to Rs 26944680 the ED said in a statement issued on ThursdayThe campaigns it said were meant to raise funds for slum dwellers and farmers relief work for Assam Bihar and Maharashtra and help Ayyub and her team to help those impacted by Covid19 in IndiaProbe found the agency said that the funds raised on the online platforms were received in the accounts of Ayyubs father and sister and subsequently transferred to her personal accountsAyyub utilised these funds to create a fixed deposits of Rs 50 lakh for herself and also transferred Rs 50 lakh in a new bank accountInvestigation found that only about Rs 29 lakh was used for relief work it claimedAlso Read Nagpur Social media influencer booked for cheating doctor of Rs 45 croreIn 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 17727704 including FD of Rs 50 Lakh were attached under the PMLA vide a provisional attachment order dated 04022022 it saidThe ED alleged Ayyub illegally raised the Rs 269 crore funds and cheated general public donorsThese funds were not used for the intended purpose and instead used for creation of assets for herself Ayyub has tried to project these funds as untainted and thus has laundered the funds received from general public the agency allegedAyyub 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 saidThe 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 saidThe money laundering case against her stems from a September 2021 FIR of Ghaziabad Police related to alleged irregularities in donor fundsAyyub had earlier rejected these allegations saying the money laundering charges levelled against her were preposterous and wholly mala fideThis 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