ED Raids Amnesty International’s Bengaluru Office

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided Bengaluru office of international human rights NGO Amnesty International on Oct.25 for alleged violations of FDI norms.

Amnesty India has denied the allegations and many activists have called the raids as an attempt by the Indian government to suppress critical voices.

ED said the raids were conducted over suspected violation of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) guidelines by the NGO. The alleged violation is linked with an earlier case when the Home Ministry had revoked the NGO’s FCRA [Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act] license, reported PTI.

“After Amnesty International India Foundation Trust (AIIFT) was denied the permission/registration under FCRA, 2010 by MHA, they resorted to bypass the FCRA Act by floating commercial entity in the name of Amnesty International India Pvt. Ltd (AIIPL),” the ED said in its statement.

ED, which is India’s leading financial investigation agency, added that the foreign funds that Amnesty has received via commercial route amount to Rs. 36 crore so far. Out of this amount, Rs. 10 crore was received as long-term loans.

However, Amnesty India has denied these allegations and said that the Indian government is treating the human rights organization as a criminal entity. It said in its statement that it has always followed national laws.

“Government authorities are increasingly treating human rights organizations like criminal enterprises…As an organization committed to the rule of law, our operations in India have always conformed with our national regulations. The principles of transparency and accountability are at the heart of our work,” said Aakar Patel, Executive Director at Amnesty International India.

Amnesty International India also put out a tweet about the raids.

<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-lang=”en”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>Over 5 ED officials raided Amnesty’s Bengaluru office. Ordered employees to not leave, shut their laptops and searched their desks. Employees were not allowed to use their phones to call friends and families. <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/CrackdownOnAmnesty?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#CrackdownOnAmnesty</a></p>&mdash; Amnesty India (@AIIndia) <a href=”https://twitter.com/AIIndia/status/1055547061557354496?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>October 25, 2018</a></blockquote>

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The ED had searched the premises of Greenpeace some time ago and had frozen many bank accounts related to them and its associated entity. Some activists, including Prashant Bhushan and Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan’s Nikhil Dey have criticized this move as government’s attempt to suppress critical voices.