In the ongoing money laundering investigation against the Popular Front of India (PFI) and its affiliated organisations, the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has provisionally attached 23 bank accounts of PFI with a combined balance of Rs. 59,12,051 and 10 bank accounts of PFI’s front organisation Rehab India Foundation (RIF) with a combined balance of Rs. 9,50,030. As a result, a total of Rs. 68,62,081 has been temporarily attached in accordance with Section 5 of the 2002 Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
According to an ED investigation, PFI and RFI received a sizable sum of money, including funds from dubious sources. More than 60 crore rupees have been put into PFI’s accounts, including a cash contribution of more than 30 crore rupees since 2009. Similarly to that, since 2010, RIF’s accounts have received deposits totalling about Rs. 58 Crore.
Additionally, an ED investigation found that PFI engaged in the laundering of criminal profits in accordance with Section 3 of the PMLA, 2002, in active coordination with other linked accused people. By misrepresenting them as monetary donations from supporters or members, proceeds of crime that were mobilised in the form of cash were put into the organization’s bank accounts. Similar to this, proceeds of crime were mobilised in the form of cash and placed by PFI leaders in the bank accounts of various people, and then these monies were instantly moved from bank accounts to PFI’s bank account to obliterate the fund trail and avoid regulatory rigour.
The investigation also revealed that PFI was secretly raising money through a well-organized network in Gulf nations as part of a criminal conspiracy. These proceeds of crime were then covertly and clandestinely sent to India through unofficial and illegal channels, as well as by way of foreign remittances into the bank accounts of PFI supporters, office holders, and members, as well as their relatives and associates there. The proceeds of crime have been deposited, stacked, and integrated into this fashion, appearing in the bank accounts of PFI and RIF as clean money.
This was done as a part of a larger criminal plot by PFI and its affiliated entities to raise money domestically and abroad to engage in a number of illegal activities. As a result, numerous FIRs and complaints have been filed against them for the commission of scheduled offences over time, and its members and office holders have been charged with crimes and found guilty.
Before the Honorable Special PMLA Court, Lucknow, ED has already filed a Prosecution Complaint on February 6, 2021, and a Supplementary Prosecution Complaint on May 6, 2022, against members and office holders of PFI and Campus Front of India. All of the suspects have been charged with the offence of money laundering by the Honorable Court.
