The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is increasingly embroiled in controversy amid the ongoing Delhi liquor policy scandal. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has now revealed startling details about the party's foreign funding. According to the agency's findings, AAP allegedly received around ₹70.8 million in foreign funds from 2014 to 2022. The ED has accused the party of violating the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Representation of the People Act (RPA), and Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) in procuring these funds. Additionally, the ED's report suggests that various foreign donors concealed several facts, including their identities and nationalities, while transferring the funds to AAP.
The ED disclosed that AAP received significant donations from the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman, and several other countries. The transfer of funds was reportedly facilitated using single passport numbers, credit cards, email IDs, and mobile numbers by different donors. The agency's investigation has highlighted numerous irregularities in the party's endeavors to amass foreign contributions. For example, AAP assembly member Durgesh Pathak and several other leaders were accused of misappropriating funds raised during a 2016 fundraising event in Canada for personal benefit. Aniket Saxena, the coordinator of AAP Overseas India, along with Kumar Vishwas, the then coordinator of AAP Overseas India, Kapil Bhardwaj (AAP member), and various other AAP volunteers and office-bearers, have been implicated through the content of emails exchanged among them.
The ED's investigation purports that not only was money raised through fundraising campaigns in the United States and Canada, but AAP also concealed the identities of the actual donors in its book of accounts to evade restrictions imposed under the FCRA.
An analysis of the foreign fund data revealed:
1. Several donors used the same passport number for their donations. 2. Multiple donors employed the same email ID for their contributions. 3. Many benefactors used a single mobile number; 4. Numerous donors made donations using the same credit card.
All pertinent information related to these donations, including the donor's name, national origin, passport number, amount donated, method of donation, recipient's bank account number, billing name, billing address, billing telephone, billing email, date and time of donation, and utilized payment gateway, which were gathered during the investigation under PMLA, 2002, has been shared with the Ministry of Home Affairs by the ED.
The agency also compiled evidence related to donations through Canadian email IDs and mobile numbers.
ED also cites cases related to drug trafficking
ED's report has also brought to light an investigation into a case of heroin smuggling from Pakistan to India that involved an international drug cartel, which was uncovered during the probe of AAP's foreign fund violations and other discrepancies. The Special Court in Fazilka, Punjab, had issued a summons to Sukhpal Singh Khaira, former AAP MLA from Bholath, in relation to this case. During ED's investigation under PMLA, searches were conducted at the residential premises of Khaira and his associates, leading to the seizure of incriminating documents showing foreign fund details. These included four pages written on a computer listing donors in the United States and an eight-page handwritten diary.
Before the 2017 elections, AAP raised $119,000 from the USA
ED alleges that an investigation of the seized documents revealed, $119,000 in foreign funds. Khaira disclosed that this foreign funding of $119,000 was raised during a fundraising campaign organized by AAP in the USA around April-May 2015, prior to the 2017 Assembly elections. ED summoned AAP's National Secretary Pankaj Gupta, who acknowledged that the party had been receiving foreign donations through checks or online portals. An analysis of the foreign fund data presented by Gupta revealed the following discrepancies in the receipt of foreign funds, which constitute violations of the FCRA provisions:
- Several donors used the same passport number to make donations. - 155 individuals living abroad used 55 passport numbers to make donations totaling ₹10.2 million on 404 occasions. - 71 overseas donors used 21 mobile numbers to make donations totaling ₹9,990,870 on 256 occasions. - 75 overseas donors used 15 credit cards to make donations totaling ₹1,992,123 on 148 occasions.
AAP accused of flouting foreign fund rules
These facts establish attempts to conceal the actual source of the funds, including the identity and nationality of the donors, which contravenes the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, 2010.
The investigation also revealed that AAP had established an institution, AAP Overseas India, along with volunteers in the United States, Canada, Australia, etc., whose primary task was to raise foreign funds for AAP India. It has been revealed that a target of millions in foreign donations was set. In 2016, a goal of ₹500 million was set for these volunteers.
A total of ₹5,115,044 was raised using the email IDs and mobile numbers of 19 Canadian citizens. However, the names of these Canadian citizens and their nationalities were concealed and not properly reflected in the records. Instead, different names were mentioned for this fund, and it was deliberately done by AAP to hide donations from foreign nationals, violating sections 3 of FCRA, 2010, and section 298 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
Irregularities and improprieties by AAP officers and volunteers-
The investigation uncovered irregularities and improprieties by AAP officers and volunteers during foreign fundraising campaigns, succinctly summarized as follows:
In a 2016 fundraising campaign held in Canada by AAP, an email exchange between Aniket Saxena (Coordinator of AAP Overseas India) and Kumar Vishwas, the then coordinator, revealed that Durgesh Pathak (currently an AAP MLA in Delhi Assembly) and Kapil Bhardwaj (AAP member) asked Aniket to transfer the raised fund of 29000 dollars through Bhagwant Toor directly to Durgesh Pathak and Kapil Bhardwaj.
Revelations from the email content
These facts prove that the funds raised during campaigns abroad were used for personal benefit by AAP leaders and office-bearers.
For clarity, the content of the email is presented as follows-
During an event organized by AAP in Toronto, Canada, on 22.11.2015, where Durgesh Pathak (currently an MLA in Delhi Assembly) participated, 15,000 Canadian dollars were raised, and a handwritten data sheet with details of the donors and the donated amount was emailed to AAP Overseas India by AAP volunteers in Canada.
However, it was discovered during the investigation that the actual donors mentioned in the handwritten data sheet were not reflected in the official records provided by AAP, proving that the true identity of the foreign donors was concealed and that the record had been manipulated by AAP in foreign funding.
AAP organized an event in Toronto, Canada, on 30.01.2016, claiming to have raised a donation of 11786 dollars, of which 3821 dollars were claimed as event organization expenses. The amount of 7955 dollars was sent to AAP India in their IDBI bank account number using the passports of 11 AAP Canada volunteers (Indian citizens), although the claim was made that the donation was made by over 200 individuals who participated in that event. Thus, AAP's claim that it received foreign funding only through its online portal or checks is incorrect.
What is FCRA?
FCRA stands for the . It was created in 1976 and amended in 2010. The FCRA not only grants permission to receive foreign contributions but also monitors foreign funding to ensure its purpose and to prevent any potential funding of terrorism. In addition, keeping security-related facts is part of FCRA's responsibilities.
