Journalist Rana Ayyub issued a statement on Friday, a day after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) attached funds worth ₹1.77 crore from her bank accounts over charges of money laundering.
In her statement, Ayyub refuted all allegations of misappropriation of funds received as donations as she shared details of how the money was raised on crowdfunding platform Ketto and spent thereafter.
The ED has alleged that donations raised by her for relief work through the online platform were laundered and used for personal expenses.
Ayyub said the various allegations reported in the media are “baseless, mala fide and fanciful”.
“In my three public campaigns undertaken on Ketto, I had raised a total of ₹2,69,44,679 (about 26.9 million). I have provided all bills and invoices for the relief work undertaken by me, which is to the tune of 40 lakhs / 4 million rupees (40,45,644 /- to be precise).”
{{/usCountry}}“In my three public campaigns undertaken on Ketto, I had raised a total of ₹2,69,44,679 (about 26.9 million). I have provided all bills and invoices for the relief work undertaken by me, which is to the tune of 40 lakhs / 4 million rupees (40,45,644 /- to be precise).”
{{/usCountry}}“The experience of Covid showed that there was an urgent need to supplement the existing medical infrastructure. My efforts to set up a makeshift Covid hospital were taking too long, so I had decided to donate towards a public funded hospital to aid in the treatment of patients.
“...I had arrived at an agreement with Save The Children Foundation to donate towards the paediatrics department of Tilak Hospital in New Delhi. I had issued a cheque to the tune of 90 lakhs / 9 million rupees towards this cause on 20 August 2021. However, on 08 September, 2021, I was informed by Save The Children Foundation that the South Delhi Municipal Corporation had refused to accept my donation and the cheque was returned to me.
Since for reasons not communicated to me, the SDMC refused my donation, in order to ensure that the donated amounts were not left unutilised, but were rather used to provide treatment and relief to the affected families in need, I donated ₹74.50 lakhs to the CM CARES Fund of Maharashtra, for relief work in my home state, and to the PM CARES Fund, for relief work across India.”
She said it is abundantly clear that no part of the relief campaign fund remains unaccounted for, and there is absolutely no scope for any misuse of the funds for personal expenses.
“The smear campaign against me will not deter me from my professional commitment to continue to do my work as a journalist, and especially to raise critical issues and ask inconvenient questions, as is my duty as a journalist in a constitutional democracy. I am confident that the allegations levelled against me will not withstand any fair and honest scrutiny.”