'Donated Money To CM, PM Cares Fund': Rana Ayyub Claims Funds Misappropriation Charges Baseless, Mala Fide

Indian journalist Rana Ayyub, in an official release on Friday (February 11), denied all the allegations of misappropriation of funds obtained as donations as she shared details of how the funds were obtained on crowdfunding platform Ketto and were spent after that.

Ayyub's statement came just a day after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had attached funds worth Rs 1.77 crore from her own bank accounts over money laundering charges.

In the official release, Ayyub refuted all charges against her of misappropriation of funds received as donations as she gave an account of how the funds were raised on crowdfunding platform Ketto and spent afterwards.

Ayyub Releases Statement

The ED has claimed that the 37-year-old raised donations for relief work through the online platform were laundered and utilised for personal expenses.

In response, Ayyub stated the various allegations reported in the numerous media are absolutely "baseless, fanciful and mala fide".

"In my three public campaigns undertaken on Ketto, I had raised a total of Rs2,69,44,679 (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)," she stated in her statement on Twitter.

She also added that the experience of COVID showed that there was a critical necessity to supplement the existing medical infrastructure. Furthermore, efforts to set up a makeshift COVID hospital were also taking too long, so she had decided to donate towards a public-funded hospital to aid in the treatment of patients, Ayyub stated.

"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 August 20, 2021."

However, on September 8, 2021, she said she was informed by Save The Children Foundation that the South Delhi Municipal Corporation had denied accepting my donation, and the cheque was returned back to her.

Due to reasons not communicated to her, the SDMC refused her donation. In order to assure that the donated amounts were not left unutilised but were instead used to deliver relief and treatment to all the affected families who are in need.

Donations To PM and CM Cares

The 37-year-old also revealed that she donated Rs 74.50 lakhs to the Maharashtra CM CARES Fund, for relief work in her home state, and also to the PM CARES Fund, for relief related work across the country.

My statementhttps://t.co/EgMfHXjoaT pic.twitter.com/tlxahJz94J

— Rana Ayyub (@RanaAyyub) February 11, 2022

Furthermore, Ayyub also stated that it is abundantly clear that none of the relief campaign funds remains unaccounted for, and there is no degree for any abuse of these funds for her personal use.

She also pointed out how the smear campaign against her will not deter her from any professional commitment to keep doing her work as a journalist and specifically to raise critical problems and raise inconvenient questions, which is a duty of her as a journalist in a democracy. Ayyub further added that she is confident that all the allegations against her will not withstand any honest and fair scrutiny.

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