SC to hear journalist Rana Ayyub's request in money laundering case
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New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear the petition of journalist Rana Ayyub against the summons issued to her by a special PMLA court in Ghaziabad in a money laundering case. The Enforcement Directorate has accused her of stealing from the funds raised for Covid relief.
A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha agreed to hear the plea on January 23. Ayyub in her writ petition sought to quash the proceedings initiated by the ED in Ghaziabad citing lack of jurisdiction as the alleged offence of money laundering occurred in Mumbai.
Her advocate Vrinda Grover asked the court for an urgent listing. She said the summons had been issued by the special court in Ghaziabad against Rana Ayyub for January 27.
"I have perused the above-mentioned prosecution complaint and have also gone through the prosecution papers as well as documents including statements. From the perusal of the entire record there is sufficient evidence as to a prima facie case for taking cognizance against Ms. Rana Ayyub with regard to the commission of offence," said the special court judge.
The alleged offence pertains to obtaining money from the general public in the name of charity via the Ketto crowdfunding platform. The special court said the act was illegal because all three of her campaigns did not have any approval. The former journalist is accused of creating assets for herself. ED alleged that she raised huge amounts in the bank account of her sister and father which was then transferred to her own bank account.
"Rana Ayyub launched three fundraiser charity campaigns on the 'Ketto platform' starting from April 2020 and collected funds totalling over Rs 2.69 crore," said ED in its statement. "Investigations found that only about Rs 29 lakh was used for relief work. She utilised these funds to create a fixed deposit of Rs 50 lakh for herself and also transferred Rs 50 lakh to a new bank account. According to ED's charge sheet, her campaigns also violated the foreign contribution law.