Amidst allegations of flouting the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, Alt News founder Pratik Sinha has effectively conceded that the lawyer for Mohammed Zubair had lied before the Patiala High Court.
On Monday (July 4), the ‘fact checking’ website issued a clarification, distancing itself from allegations of receiving foreign contributions. “The allegations claim that we have received funds from foreign sources from whom we cannot receive donations. These allegations are categorically false,” it claimed.
“Our payment platform through which we receive donations does not allow receipt of funds from foreign sources and we have received donations from Indian bank accounts only. All the donations collected through these means go to the organisation’s bank account,” Alt News further claimed.
Our statement regarding the recent allegations: pic.twitter.com/XwfpE7egcJ
— Alt News (@AltNews) July 4, 2022
The ‘fact-checking’ site claimed that none of its employees ever received funds in their personal accounts, except for their monthly compensation.
“All of this is an attempt to shut down the very critical work that we do, and we will fight this attempt to shut us down and come out on top,” Alt News cried foul.
Interestingly, the statement by the company’s founder Pratik Sinha comes days after advocate Vrinda Grover, representing Mohammed Zubair, accepted that foreign contributions were received by Alt News.
When Vrinda Grover threw Alt News under the bus
On July 2, Senior Public Prosecutor (SPP) Atul Srivastava informed the Patiala High Court that Zubair violated the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act by receiving donations from people in foreign nations.
He stated, “We have already found that donations have come from Pakistan, Syria etc. He is the Director of Pravda Media (parent company of AltNews).
Grover: Sec. 153A and 295A ki kahani khatam ho gayi, ye unhe bhi pata Hain Hume bhi.
— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) July 2, 2022
It hasn’t gone into my account. I am making a categorical statement. #MohammedZubair #AltNews #DelhiPolice
In a bid to save Zubair, advocate Vrinda Grover was quick to throw the company (AltNews) under the bus. She put out a categorical statement that foreign funds did not go to the bank account of Zubair but to that of AltNews.
Grover emphasised, “Your honour was misled when told that the accused has received it (foreign contributions). AltNews runs under a company under Section 8. They are saying I am a journalist, I cannot receive FCRA. This is to the company, not to me.”
However, advocate Vrinda Grover had accepted before the Patiala court on Saturday (July 2) that foreign contributions from Pakistan and Syria, as alleged by the senior public prosecutor, were received by AltNews and not Zubair.
Lies of Pratik Sinha exposed
In doing so, she has exposed the lies peddled by Pratik Sinha since 2019 about not accepting foreign remittances. It must be pointed out that only organisations with FCRA licences can accept foreign contributions.
According to AltNews’ founder Pratik Sinha, the alleged fact-checking company does not have an FCRA licence. During a war-of-words with psephologist Pradeep Bhandari in May 2019, Sinha conceded that his organisation could not accept foreign contributions.
He had tweeted, “We don’t have FCRA, and accepting foreign contribution would be an offence, and the directors can be jailed for the same. The archived version of the tweet can be accessed here.
It appears now as if both Pratik Sinha and advocate Vrinda Grover are deliberately trying to create confusion by making contradictory claims. Whether it is a part of the agenda to thwart the investigation process is not yet known.
