ED connects the funds of journalist Rana Ayyub in the case of money laundering.
New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday (February 10, 2022) secured more than one hundred thousand rupees worth of 1.77 crores worth of bank deposits belonging to reporter Rana Ayyub in connection with an investigation into money-laundering related to alleged irregularities in the donation of funds to charities by public sources.
The agency has issued a pro forma order pursuant to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to attach a sum of Rs 50 lakh fixed deposit, and the remaining sum is kept as bank deposits and held in two accounts at an individual bank located in Navi Mumbai.
The Federal investigation agency also discovered it was Ayyub is the account’s holder. Deposits in the amount of Rs 1,77,277,000 were seized to the ED.
Journalist Rana Ayyub found herself in the middle of a money-laundering investigation after the acquiescence of an FIR in September 2021 that was filed by Ghaziabad Police (Uttar Pradesh) concerning alleged irregularities in the funds donated by donors of more than Rs 2.69 crore that she had raised using an online platform for crowdfunding known as “Ketto.”
The police filed the case following a complaint from Vikas Sankrityayan, the founder of the NGO “Hindu IT Cell” and an Indirapuram resident. Indirapuram is situated in Ghaziabad.
Ayyub has since stated that the “entire contribution received through Ketto is properly accounted for and not a single penny has been used in a fraudulent manner”.
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According to the FIR the funds at issue were raised in the context of three campaigns: funding for farmers and slum dwellers between April and May 2020; relief to Assam, Bihar, and Maharashtra between June and September 2020; and aid to people affected by the Covid-19 disaster in India from May to June 2021.
“Funds in the amount of Rs 2,69,446,680 were collected via Ketto through Rana Ayyub. The money was withdrawn into the accounts of her father and sister,” the agency said.
“Out of this sum, there was a withdrawal of Rs 72,01786 through her personal bank account, while Rs 37,15,072 was taken out of her younger sister Iffat Shaikh’s bank account, and the sum of Rs 1,60,27,822 was taken out of her father’s Mohd Ayyub Waugh’s account in the bank,” it said.
The Federal Investigation Agency determined that all the funds were later “transferred” to Ayyub’s personal account.
Ayyub provided documents of expenses of Rs 31,16,770 in the ED However, following investigation of the expenses claimed, the agency discovered that the actual costs were 1766,970 rupees, the agency said.
“Fake bills were discovered to be prepared by Rana Ayyub under the name of a few organizations to claim expenses for relief work. The expenses for personal travel via air were claimed as expenses to aid work,” the report claimed.
The ED said that its inquiry “makes it crystal obvious that the money was raised for charity in a meticulously planned and organized manner and that the money was not used to the fullest extent to the end for the purpose for which they were raised.”
“Instead of using the money to help the relief efforts, Rana Ayyub parked some of the money through the opening of a separate banking account in a bank,” they said.
Ayyub said that he made the”fixed deposit” of 50 lakh rupees from the money raised through the platform and later “did not make use of” the funds to fund relief projects.
The agency has found that Ayyub “deposited the sum of more than 74.50 lakhs in PM Cares fund and CM Relief Fund.”
An attachment decision of ED is able to be challenged before an Adjudicating Authority of PMLA.
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