ED imposes penalty of ₹51.72 crores, ₹10 crores on Amnesty International, Aakar Patel for FEMA violations

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has adjudicated that Amnesty India International and its Chief Operating Officer (CEO) Aakar Patel acted in contravention of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), and imposed a penalty of ₹51.72 crore and ₹10 crore respectively..The ED shared the order via a Twitter post."The Adjudicating Authority of ED has adjudicated a SCN issued to M/s Amnesty India International Pvt. Ltd.(AIIPL) and its CEO Shri Aakar Patel for contravention of the provisions of FEMA and imposed penalty of Rs. 51.72 Crore and Rs 10 Crore respectively," the tweet said..Following the freezing of its bank accounts in September 2020, Amnesty International had announced that it was stopping its operations in India.On October 25, 2018, the ED had conducted search and seizure at its office, allegedly on the basis of a search warrant.Shortly thereafter, ED issued letters dated October 10 to various banks to stop debit operation with respect to the bank accounts of Amnesty. However, the organisation was allegedly not provided with copies of these letters..Amnesty then moved the Karnataka High Court, which passed an interim order in November 2020, allowing it to utilize the amount for the payment of salaries, statutory, and other running expenses..In December 2018, ED had written a letter to the Home Secretary, Government of India and also sent an interim report indicating that there was a violation of Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act by the petitioner trust.It was further stated that the Secretary, after perusal of the interim report, directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to conduct further investigation as per law.The CBI subsequently registered an FIR against Amnesty and others, under Sections 11, 35, and 39 of the FCRA in 2019..In August 2020, ED sent a notice to Avinash Kumar, Executive Director of Amnesty International (India), seeking his appearance. A similar notice was issued to various people associated with the organisation, all of whom said they co-operated with the investigation. .ED then issued letters to South Indian Bank, IDBI Bank, HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and Yes Bank (in which Amnesty was maintaining accounts), directing that the accounts of the trust be put on debit freeze.