ED flags Rs 7-crore AAP foreign funds to MHA, party says old issue rehashed

The central probe agency’s first communication to the MHA was sent on October 27, 2022 by the then ED Director S K Mishra after it recovered some documents and emails during a drug case-related money laundering probe against former Punjab AAP MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira and some others.

Khaira was arrested by the ED in 2021 on charges of money laundering linked to the 2015 drugs case, but was granted bail in 2022. In February 2023, the Supreme Court quashed the summoning order against Khaira in the 2015 case. He is now with the Congress party.

On August 4 last year, ED Joint Director Jitendra Kumar Gogia sent a detailed communication to one of the directors of the FCRA division in the MHA, flagging alleged violations by the AAP and categorising these instances as contravention of the FCRA and the Representation of the People Act. “It has been learnt that the ED recently shared some fresh inputs in this case with the MHA,” a source said.

Donations to political parties can only be made by Indian citizens or companies. Foreign contributions to political parties are not allowed as per Section 29B of the Representation of the People Act 1951 and Section 3 of the FCRA.

The ED’s communication to the MHA has emerged two weeks after Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena recommended a probe by the NIA against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for allegedly receiving political funding for the AAP from the banned extremist organisation Sikhs for Justice (SFJ).

The recommendation was based on a complaint by one Ashoo Mongia of the World Hindu Federation, wherein it was alleged that SFJ leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, in a video following Kejriwal’s arrest, had claimed that AAP had received $16 million from Khalistani groups between 2014 and 2022.

Responding to the ED’s allegations on Monday, AAP Delhi minister Atishi said, “I want to tell the BJP that ever since the AAP was formed, it has taken every single rupee donation with complete transparency and has given the account of every single rupee donation with complete transparency to the Election Commission, Income Tax Department, to every institution in the country… The allegations that are being made today are long-forgotten… AAP has already replied to ED, CBI, MHA, Election Commission.”

Accusing BJP of raking up an old issue, AAP national general secretary (organisation) Sandeep Pathak said that the MHA in an affidavit submitted in the Delhi High Court in 2015 said there was nothing wrong with AAP’s funding. “This issue is old and over, the question arises why this issue is being raised by the BJP again today,” he said.

In its first communication to the MHA in 2022, the ED had said that it was probing a case against an international drugs cartel involved in smuggling of heroin from Pakistan. “…During investigation, searches were conducted at Khaira’s premises and his associates from where we have recovered incriminating documents, containing details of foreign donations and eight hand-written pages of diary,” the ED communication said.

“Khaira in his statement has disclosed that the foreign funding was raised during an overseas fund-raising campaign in the USA organised by AAP in April-May 2016 – just before the upcoming Punjab assembly elections… He claimed that he also participated in the fund-raising campaign, but foreign funds as recorded in the seized documents were used by AAP and not by him,” it stated.

In the communication, Mishra claimed that AAP national secretary Pankaj Gupta was summoned and he admitted that AAP had been receiving foreign donations either through cheque or through the online portal.

“Several discrepancies were found from the data of foreign donations submitted by Gupta and it shows that multiple donors have used the same passport numbers for donation, 155 persons residing abroad have made donations of around Rs 1.2 crore on 404 occasions while using 55 passport numbers. Probe has also revealed that AAP had intentionally concealed the identity and nationality of the real donors, even multiple donors used same email IDs, used same mobile numbers and also used the same credit card for donation on 148 occasions,” Mishra alleged in his letter.

The ED alleged that the AAP has received overseas donations of about Rs 7.08 crore until now and allegedly mis-declared and manipulated identities and nationalities of the foreign donors apart from some other details.

It also alleged that donations were received from 19 Canadian nationals but their names and nationality were concealed in AAP records. “…It is amply clear from investigation under the PMLA that AAP is collecting foreign donations in violation of provisions of FCRA and the Representation of the People Act, 1951, by concealing, mis-declaring and manipulating the identities of foreign donors,” Mishra alleged.

A senior official said FCRA violations cases are probed by the CBI and the MHA can write to it seeking a probe into the ED allegations.