Amnesty got Rs 36 crore in violation of guidelines: CBI

New Delhi : A day after the Central Bureau of Investigation carried out searches at four locations of human rights group Amnesty India's offices in Bengaluru and Delhi, the agency alleged the NGO received foreign contributions to the tune of Rs 36 crore from Amnesty International United Kingdom through the Amnesty International India Private Limited (AIIPL).

A senior CBI source related to the development told IANS, "Indians For Amnesty International Trust (IAIT), Amnesty International India Foundation Trust (AIIFT), Amnesty International South Asia Foundation (AISAF) received foreign contributions amounting to Rs 36 crore from Amnesty International U.K. through Amnesty International India Pvt. Ltd."

The source said Amnesty India used commercial methods in order to illegally circumvent the provisions of Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) that they were obliged to observe.

The source said the Ministry of Home Affairs in its order had said that in order to evade FCRA, Amnesty (UK) remitted Rs 10 crore to Amnesty's India entities classified as FDI, without its approval.

He also said that another Rs 26 crore was remitted to Amnesty (India) primarily from UK-based entities without MHA's approval.

He said, Amnesty (India) received funds for three purposes -- service contract, advance income and FDI through automatic route which are mainly used by commercial entities.