India accuses Amnesty International of laundering over $6 million
New Delhi, Jul 9 (EFE).- Indian anti-corruption authorities on Saturday accused Amnesty International, which stopped operating in the Asian country in 2020, of laundering over $6.4 million.
“ED filed a prosecution complaint under Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) against M/s. Amnesty International India Pvt Ltd (AIIPL), M/s. Indians for Amnesty International Trust (IAIT) and others in a money laundering case of Rs.51.72 Crore,” Enforcement Directorate posted on Twitter.
The complaint comes a day after ED imposed a $6.4-million fine on Amnesty International India and another of $1.2 million on its president, Aakar Patel, for violating the Currency Administration Law.
In September 2020, AI suspended its operations in India after its bank accounts in the country were frozen by the government.
Indian authorities accuse the human rights organization of receiving funds from abroad without government authorization and using indirect methods to receive money.
Other government agencies, such as the Central Bureau of Investigation, have raided AI offices in the past, and their accounts had been frozen in 2018.
The organization, which has on numerous occasions denounced human rights violations in the Asian giant, has accused the Indian authorities of harassment.
In recent years, the government has tightened the foreign funding regulation of non-profit organizations, a move that has been denounced as an attempt to silence international human rights organizations. EFE
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