ED raids Amnesty International Headquarters in Bengaluru
Bengaluru: In a major crackdown on NGOs, Enforcement Directorate (ED) has raided the Amnesty International’s headquarters in Bengaluru.
ED has confirmed that the Amnesty International headquarters in Bengaluru is being raided. As per reports, the ED is looking at FCRA and other violations.
The action on Amnesty International comes after ED had stopped operations of Greenpeace India Society’s 12 accounts with different banks. As per reports, the source of funding of many NGOs are now under the scanner.
Earlier in October, the Enforcement Directorate had frozen over a dozen bank accounts of environmental NGO Greenpeace and its linked entity after it conducted searches at their premises in Bangalore on charges of alleged forex violations.
Reports are suggesting that the searches, under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), were conducted on October 5 in Bengaluru as it was detected that it incorporated a commercial entity called DDIIPL in 2016 after the Union Home Ministry cancelled Greenpeace India Society’s (Chennai) FCRA registration the previous year for alleged violation of norms.
Reports said the ED searches were carried out on charges of “contravention of the FEMA” and the office premises of DDIIPL and Greenpeace India Society were covered.