‘Journalist’ Rana Ayyub played victim after the Enforcement Directorate filed a chargesheet against her in connection with a case alleging that she illegally acquired funds in the name of charity.
In a statement released on Twitter after ED charge sheeted her, Ms Ayyub called the agency’s action ‘against an alleged ‘motivated’ and abuse of PMLA—the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, under which she has been charged. However, Ms Ayyub did not proffer facts and explanations countering the allegations levelled against her.
Instead, Ms Ayyub relied on rhetorics to declare herself a victim of “the abuse of PMLA law” for her attacks against the central government.
“The chargesheet filed by the ED is yet another desperate attempt to target and intimidate me for my work, and yet another example of the abuse of PMLA law and misuse of law enforcement agencies to silence me, a voice that questions and critiques the ruling regime,” Ayyub said in a statement released on Twitter.
My pen can NEVER be silenced. Ironic that I conducted a seminar yesterday, here in the US, on the attack on the free press in India. I will continue to raise my voice against the persecution of the marginalised in the country. My statement. All i have to say pic.twitter.com/5q4Hnzkx56
— Rana Ayyub (@RanaAyyub) October 13, 2022
Ms Ayyub has often raised aspersions on the integrity of the judiciary, particularly on occasions after it has issued verdicts that have run counter to her beliefs. But in her statement after being charge-sheeted by ED, Ms Ayyub oozed confidence in the judiciary, stating that she feels confident that “abuse of process” will not stand judicial scrutiny. And if it does, she always has the fallback card of accusing the Modi government of compromising the judiciary.
ED files charge sheet against donation fraud accused Rana Ayyub
On Wednesday, October 12, the Enforcement Directorate filed a prosecution complaint against alleged journalist Rana Ayyub in a money laundering case. The complaint was filed under Section 8 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 in a special court in Ghaziabad, in relation to the three fundraising campaigns that Ayyub ran on Ketto but didn’t utilise most of the collected money for stated purposes.
In the prosecution complaint, the ED stated that it had initiated a money laundering investigation on the basis of an FIR registered on 07.09.2021 by the Indirapuram Police Station, Ghaziabad, U.P, under various sections of IPC 1860, Information Technology Amendment Act 2008 and Black Money Act against Rana Ayyub alleging that she illegally acquired funds from the general public in the name of charity by launching fund-raiser campaigns on the online crowdfunding platform ‘Ketto’.
ED also stated that Rana Ayyub is a journalist by profession and received foreign contributions without registration under FCRA. According to the statement issued by ED, the investigation revealed that Rana Ayyub launched 3 fundraiser campaigns on ‘Ketto platform’ starting in April 2020, and collected funds totalling Rs. 2,69,44,680/-, namely:
- Help in raising funds for slum dwellers & farmers
- Relief work for Assam, Bihar and Maharashtra
- Help Rana Ayyub & her team to help those impacted by Covid19 in India.
The ED probe has found that all the money transferred to her personal bank accounts, Rana Ayyub used only around 10.8% of the fund she collected for relief work, and the bulk of the money was kept in bank accounts. The statement said, “Investigation by ED revealed that the funds raised on the online platforms were received in the accounts of her father and sister and subsequently transferred to her personal accounts. Ms Rana Ayyub utilized these funds to create fixed deposits of Rs. 50 lakhs for herself and also transferred Rs. 50 Lakhs in a new bank account. ED investigation revealed that only approx. Rs. 29 lakhs was used for relief work.”
