'Politically Motivated': PFI After ED Attaches 33 of Its Bank Accounts

The Enforcement Directorate attached Rs 68 lakh of the Popular Front of India in a money laundering case.

Image used for representational purposes only.

(Photo: IANS)

A day after the Enforcement Directorate provisionally attached at least 33 of its bank accounts, Popular Front of India (PFI) on Thursday, 2 June, said that it had been targeted due to its stand against the “Sangh Parivar's divisive politics.”

A statement issued by the PFI claimed the case was "politically motivated" and that the amount seized by the ED contained funds collected to provide relief from natural calamities. "The deposits for the duration of 13 years are nothing but normal for the functioning of a nationwide social movement," it asserted.

"The stated figures by the ED are not at all astonishing and no great investigation is needed by an agency like ED as we have already filed every penny of the collections to the income tax. This proves it is nothing but sensationalising of figures,” the group said.

A total amount of Rs 68,62,081 was provisionally attached by the ED under Section 5 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. This came in connection with a money laundering case against PFI and one of its organisations named Rehab India Foundation (RIF).

"ED has provisionally attached 23 bank accounts of PFI having a collective balance of Rs 59,12,051 and 10 bank accounts of PFI’s front organisation RIF having a collective balance of Rs 9,50,030 in the ongoing money laundering investigation against PFI and its related organisations," a statement by the central agency read.

The PFI further alleged on Thursday that central agencies such as the ED are acting as mere “pawns of the political masters” by going after people’s movements, NGOs, human rights organisations, opposition parties, media, and "any democratic voices in the country that are critical of the ruling BJP."

PFI Received Funds from Questionable Sources: ED

The ED also said that both the PFI and the RFI had received a huge amount of cash from questionable sources.

"An amount of more than Rs 60 crore have been deposited in the accounts of PFI which includes cash deposit of more than Rs 30 crore since 2009. Similarly, around Rs 58 Crore have been deposited in the accounts of RIF since 2010," the ED said.

The ED's investigation also revealed that the PFI colluded with other accused persons to launder money.

Proceeds from crime were deposited in its bank accounts by false projecting them as cash donations from sympathisers or members, the central agency further said, as per ANI.

"Similarly, in order to obliterate the fund trail and circumvent the regulatory rigour, proceeds of crime were mobilised in the form of cash and deposited by PFI leaders in the bank accounts of various individuals and immediately thereafter these funds were transferred from bank accounts to PFI’s bank account," the ED added.

The ED's probe also revealed that the PFI was covertly mobilising funds though a network of Gulf countries as part of a criminal conspiracy. These funds were then sent to India clandestinely through illegal methods.

"In this way, the proceeds of crime have been placed, layered and integrated and therefore projected as untainted money in the bank accounts of PFI as well as RIF," the ED further said.

(With inputs from ANI.)