In accordance with the Prevention of Money Laundering Act of 2002 (PMLA), the Indian AML watchdog Directorate of Enforcement (ED) filed a criminal case against M/s. Amnesty International India Pvt. Ltd. In a money laundering case, Indians for Amnesty International Trust (IAIT) and others.
In this case, the CBI, EOU-IV, New Delhi filed a FIR under Section 120(B) of the Indian Penal Code of 1860 and Sections 11, 35, and 39 of the Foreign Contributions Regulatory Act of 2010 against M/s. Amnesty International India Pvt Ltd. (AIIPL), M/s. Indians for Amnesty International Trust, (IAIT), M/s. Amnesty International India Foundation Trust (AIIFT), and others. This Directorate has filed a complaint and opened an investigation under the 2002 Prevention of Money Laundering Act based on the FIR (PMLA).
According to the findings of an Enforcement Directorate inquiry, Amnesty International India Foundation Trust (AIIFT) was given approval under the FCRA, 2010, to accept donations from Amnesty International UK in 2011–12. After receiving negative comments, the permit or registration was later cancelled for this entity. Then, in order to avoid the FCRA method and obtain foreign currency under the pretence of service export and FDI, two new businesses, M/s Amnesty International India Pvt Ltd (AIIPL) and M/s Indians Amnesty International Trust (IAIT), were founded in the years 2013–2014 and 2012–2013, respectively.
It is further revealed that M/s. Amnesty International, U.K. sent Rs. 51.72 Crore to AIIPL under the guise of exporting services and foreign direct investment after the Indian government cancelled its FCRA licence for M/s. Amnesty International India Foundation Trust, changing the way Amnesty entities receive money from abroad. Additionally, there were no invoices or copies of the contract between M/s AIIPL and Amnesty International UK to support the export proceeds or advances received for the export of services to Amnesty International UK, and AIIPL did not provide these to the Authorized Dealer (AD) Banks.
M/s Amnesty International India Pvt Ltd and others have violated the law by posing as “civil society workers” while receiving foreign currency in a for-profit business and misusing FDI. This is amply demonstrated by the lack of any information or documentation pertaining to exports made and the layering of remittances received by AIIPL, a company, into M/s. IAIT, a charitable 2 Trust. In this instance, the proceeds of crime have been acquired by both parties and stacked as different moveable possessions. Two provisional attachment orders were then issued for the attachment of moveable property valued at Rs 19.54 crore, and the Adjudicating Authority (PMLA), New Delhi, affirmed the orders.
In view of the above, a complaint has been filed in the court of the Principal City Civil and Sessions Judge, Bengaluru City, Bengaluru, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, against M/s. Amnesty International India Pvt Ltd and others. The aforementioned special PMLA court has taken the case under the cognizance and summoned all accused parties to appear before the court.
