A real money heist? ED attaches assets worth Rs 1.77 crores of Rana Ayyub, says she cheated general public donors
11 Feb 2022 11:19:35
New Delhi, Feb 11: Taking action against the Liberal Journalist, Rana Ayyub for cheating the general Public Donors in a pre-planned manner, Enforcement Directorate assets worth Rs Rs 1.77 crore of Washington Post columnist in connection with a money laundering case.
According to probe officials, Rana allegedly utilized the parts of donations meant for three campaigns, for personal expenses. She collected the money and started withdrawing it from the savings account of herself and her family members.
It is worth to be noted that, Ayyub allegedly received donations to the tune of Rs 2.69 crore through three donation campaigns, out of which Rs 80.49 lakh was received in foreign currency. ED probe suggests that funds that were raised for the purpose were transferred to her savings bank account and the bank account of her sister and father. Ayyub also created the fixed deposit of Rs 50 lakh from the funds raised on the online platform and subsequently "did not utilise" these for relief work.
“Out of this amount, Rs 72,01,786 was withdrawn in her own bank account, Rs 37,15,072 was withdrawn in her sister Iffat Shaikh's account, and Rs 1,60,27,822 was withdrawn in her father Mohd Ayyub Waquif's bank account,” it said. The federal investigation agency found that all these funds were subsequently "transferred" in Ayyub's own account.
During the investigation, Ayyub submitted documents of expense for Rs 31,16,770 to the ED, however, after verification of the claimed expenses, the agency found that the actual expenses were to the tune of Rs 17,66,970, the agency stated. "Fake bills were found to have been prepared by Rana Ayyub in the name of some entities to claim expenses on relief work. Expenses made for personal travel by air were claimed as expense for relief work," it alleged.
"She allegedly didn't utilize donations meant for three campaigns for the right purpose. Parts of donations were allegedly used for personal expenses," said the ED official. The ED said that Ayyub has cheated the general Public Donors in a pre-planned manner and with the intention to cheat the general public donors.
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