No Peace For Greenpeace: ED Blocks 12 Bank Accounts While Investigating Foreign Exchange Rule Violations

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has frozen 12 bank accounts of Greenpeace India in three different banks while investigating ongoing probe into violation of foreign exchange rules, The Hindu has reported.

Searches were conducted at Direct Dialogue Initiatives India Private Limited where the Greenpeace India has its office. The company was set up in October 2016. Enforcement Directorate said that the company had raised Rs 29 crore in form of foreign direct investment (FDI) since December 2016. Five different entities were involved in the transaction. But they were allegedly related to Greenpeace. It also alleged that most Greenpeace employees had shifted to the company.

Greenpeace released a statement which said, “every rupee that goes into Greenpeace India’s environmental work is a donation made by ecologically conscious people in the country… We strongly object to attempts of defaming Greenpeace India through false claims and accusations.”

Greenpeace said that the investigation is part of the larger design to muzzle dissent. The central government had cancelled the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) licence of Greenpeace India in September 2015. The ED has now sought a list of Indian donors to probe the organisation’s source of funding.