The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday alleged that Amnesty India illegally received foreign contributions amounting to Rs 36 crore from Amnesty International United Kingdom through the Amnesty International India Private Limited (AIIPL).
The CBI made the statement a day after it carried out searches at four locations of the human rights group's offices in Bengaluru and New Delhi.
A senior CBI source related to the development said, "Indians For Amnesty International Trust (IAIT), Amnesty International India Foundation Trust (AIIFT), Amnesty International South Asia Foundation (AISAF) received foreign contributions amounting to Rs 36 crore from Amnesty International U.K. through Amnesty International India Pvt. Ltd."
According to the CBI, Amnesty India used commercial methods in order to illegally circumvent the provisions of Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) that they were obliged to observe.The Ministry of Home Affairs in its order had said that to evade FCRA, Amnesty (UK) remitted Rs 10 crore to Amnesty's India entities classified as FDI, without its approval.
The source also said that another Rs 26 crore was remitted to Amnesty (India) primarily from UK-based entities without MHA's approval.
According to the CBI, Amnesty (India) received funds for three purposes -- service contract, advance income and FDI through automatic route which are mainly used by commercial entities.
"Of the total Rs 36 crore of foreign funds received, Rs 10 crore was remitted as FDI, Rs 26 crore as payment for consultancy services of which Rs 3.5 crore was shown as advance income in 2016-17. Amnesty International (UK) invested Rs 10 crore in Amnesty International India on September 24, 2015 and this was classified as compulsory convertible debentures (CCD) and shown in balance sheet and IT returns as long-term borrowings. This amount was immediately placed in FDs," the source said.
The disclosure by the Central probe agency comes a day after it raided the offices of Amnesty India in Delhi and Bengaluru. The move came after the agency filed a case of FCRA violation on the complaint of Ministry of Home Affairs.
The CBI registered a case against the Amnesty entities and others on November 5.
The source said the inspection of books of accounts of Amnesty International India Pvt. Ltd, Bengaluru by the MHA revealed that the "company allegedly indulged in activities that were not commensurate with the activities of a for-profit company" but "constituted activities" that are either prohibited or regulated under FCRA.
He said that the MHA complaint also mentioned that the interim report prepared by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against Amnesty intimated that Civil Society Work (charitable activities) is being carried out by Amnesty International (India) "on huge profit on commercial lines and the funds for these activities are obtained in the garb of remittances against export of services".
On Friday, a CBI official said it was alleged that the provision of the FCRA 2010 and Indian Penal Code were contravened by Amnesty entities by receiving foreign contributions from Amnesty International UK through the AIIPL even though prior registration or permissions were denied to the AIIFT and other trusts under the FCRA.
All the funds received by the Amnesty entities were without the MHA's approval, CBI said.
Following the CBI searches at its offices, the human rights group in a statement said, "The CBI on Friday conducted searches at the offices of Amnesty International India Private Limited and Indians for Amnesty International Trust in Bengaluru and New Delhi."
The international human rights campaigner said over the past year, it had been witnessing a pattern of harassment every time the NGO stands up and speaks out against human rights violations in India.
"Amnesty India stands in full compliance with Indian and international law. Our work in India, as elsewhere, is to uphold and fight for universal human rights," Amnesty India said.
The organisation said it works to uphold values such as pluralism, tolerance and dissent, guaranteed by the Constitution of India. According to Amnesty, as many as four million Indians supported the NGO's work in India in the past six years and one lakh people contributed financially.
"Our work in India, as elsewhere, is to uphold universal human rights and build a global movement of people who take injustice personally," it added.