Foreign donations for Aam Aadmi Party | CBI books Durgesh Pathak, Kapil Bhardwaj; conducts searches

New Delhi: AAP has found itself in trouble over “illegally” receiving foreign donations, which is barred for political parties under law, with the CBI registering a case against its two senior functionaries, including its Gujarat co-incharge Durgesh Pathak, over collecting funds from Canadian nationals.

On Thursday, the agency conducted searches at the premises of Pathak, a close aide of party chief Arvind Kejriwal and former MLA. Besides Pathak, the agency booked an AAP functionary Kapil Bhardwaj, who is no more, in the case.

The FIR alleged that irregularities have been done “deliberately by AAP”, with an intention to “conceal identity and nationality of the real donors”.

Pathak told reporters that the FIR is a “conspiracy born out of fear” and an effort to “intimidate” him due to his growing political activity in Gujarat. He said a team of CBI officers searched “every corner of my two-room premises for around three-four hours” but did not tell him any details of the case.

“They searched everything but couldn't find anything. I think they came to scare me as I have started working in Gujarat for the AAP. They came so that nobody joins us in Gujarat," he said.

The FIR came following a complaint from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), which claimed that the AAP received foreign donations in contravention of the Foreign Contribution (Regulations) Act (FCRA) 2010 and violating the Representation of People Act, 1951.

The MHA said it had received a communication from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) that it had stumbled upon evidence of AAP receiving overseas donations while investigating an international drug cartel in Punjab. It said it had seized documents related to donations from Sukhpal Singh Khaira, an AAP leader who later shifted to the Congress.

According to the CBI FIR, the ED had found discrepancies in foreign donations received. It said 155 people residing abroad have donated Rs 1.02 crore on 404 occasions using 55 passport numbers to AAP in which there were instances of multiple donors using the same passport.

AAP also claimed 201 people residing abroad donated Rs 2.65 crore using 51 email ids on 639 occasions, while 71 donors used 21 mobile numbers for donating Rs 99.90 lakh on 256 occasions, the FIR said adding 75 donors used 15 credit cards to donate Rs 19.92 lakh on 148 occasions.

"FCRA donations worth Rs. 51.15 lakh were received by the AAP from 19 Canadian nationals, however their nationality has been concealed by AAP in the records. One Canadian citizen Karnail Singh Sidhu has directly donated Rs 20,000 to AAP through AAP's online portal in 2016," the FIR claimed.

The FIR also said the AAP had set up 'AAP Overseas India' with volunteers in USA, Canada and Australia among other countries to mobilise foreign funds for the party and during a fundraising event organised by AAP in Canada in 2016, an email conversation took place between Aniket Saxsena, (Coordinator of AAP Overseas India, and Kumar Vishwas, then Convenor of AAP Overseas India.

"This conversation revealed that Durgesh Pathak and Kapil Bhardwaj had asked Aniket to transfer the donation of USD 29,000, directly to Durgesh Pathak and Kapil Bhardwaj through Bhagwant Toor," the FIR alleged.

It also claimed that Pathak attended a fundraising event on 22 November, 2015 in Canada and a handwritten raw data sheet containing real names of Canadian donors was sent by an AAP volunteer to AAP overseas through email.