)
Rejecting the allegation of illegally receiving foreign funds, Aam Aadmi Party has told the Delhi High Court that it got donations worth Rs 30 crore from Indian citizens only, out which about Rs 8.5 crore came from NRIs.
Denying having violated any foreign exchange or other laws, AAP contended that the PIL accusing it and its founding members of having illegally received foreign funding is "scandalous, frivolous, motivated and baseless".
The party, in its response filed in the high court, has said that it has "very small amount of funds and also the most transparent method of political funding amongst all parties".
"It is the only party whose all financial records, and the names of each and every donor is on its website, open for public view," the affidavit, filed by AAP national secretary Pankaj Kumar Gupta, said and sought dismissal of the PIL.
AAP, while rejecting the contentions in the petition for lodging of a criminal case against it and its members, said that the high court "must direct a thorough investigation of the funding sources (including foreign funding) of major political parties, particularly the Congress and the BJP".
"These are the parties that have received donations officially running into thousands of crores from unknown sources. Other hidden donations that are not shown in their books may be much higher and deserve a thorough investigation in order to clean up our political and electoral system," the party has said in its response.
It has also alleged that while the Home Ministry "readily launched an investigation into AAP's finances on the pretext of pendency of the petition", no such probe or action was taken against major political parties, "despite clear cut evidence of taking foreign funding by them".
