Unblock accounts: Greenpeace to govt

Greenpeace on Friday questioned the legality of government’s decision to block five of its domestic bank accounts last week and demanded its immediate unblocking.

In a letter to the Union Home Ministry, Greenpeace India’s Executive Director Samit Aich said freezing of all its bank accounts “risks causing needless suffering” to its staff and supporters.

The Home Ministry had last week frozen its account used for receiving foreign funds, its utilisation account and five accounts where donations from abroad were “illegally” diverted.
Officials in the ministry said they would examine the letter and take appropriate action. The Home Ministry does not have jurisdiction to stop domestic contribution to any NGO and is not interested in doing so, they said.

In the letter, Aich asked how the ministry could freeze Indian accounts as it was not guided by the Foreign Contributions Regulation Act (FCRA). “Provisions of FCRA Act, 2010, apply solely and exclusively to the acceptance and utilisation of foreign contributions,” he said.

Greenpeace claimed that it receives about 70 per cent of its funds from Indian donors and the Home Ministry has frozen these accounts on April 9.

The NGO has sought a response from the ministry within seven days, saying it would be forced to take “appropriate action” if it does not get relief.