UK Conservative Party faces calls to freeze money donated by Indian rice tycoon, under probe in India

The UK Conservative Party is facing calls this weekend to freeze the money donated by Indian rice tycoon Karan Chanana, pending an inquiry, a media report said.

The allegations come as the UK government faces mounting pressure to tighten up rules on foreign donations and improve diligence checks.

Chanana has reportedly given more than 2,20,000 pounds to the party.

Chanana, head of the global rice brand Amira, is being investigated in India over claims that tens of millions of pounds of bank loans were unlawfully diverted into shell entities. Chanana has not responded to the claims, The Guardian reported.

Margaret Hodge, the Labour MP and chair of the all-party group on anti-corruption and responsible tax, said the Conservative party should now establish the source of the funds donated by Amira and freeze the money until the inquiries are completed, The Guardian reported.

The enforcement directorate in India, which is part of the country's finance ministry, said it conducted search operations on May 2 at 21 locations in India connected to Chanana, the Indian company Amira Pure Foods and other parties.

Nearly 100,000 pounds in Indian currency was seized in the searches, which were conducted under India's Prevention of Money Laundering Act, said the directorate. No charges have been filed to date, The Guardian reported.

In a statement, the enforcement directorate said: "Investigations revealed that the accused entities in connivance with each other as well as other related/unrelated entities have illegally diverted loan funds sanctioned by the consortium of banks by way of transferring loan funds into the accounts of various shell entities under the guise of genuine business transactions.

"It was also known that Karan Chanana had donated to a political party of [the] United Kingdom since 2019 .... while the accused entity had itself defaulted on repayment loans."

Chanana, its chairman and chief executive, operated the business from its headquarters in the 35-storey Gold Tower in Dubai, while its official company registration was in the British Virgin Islands.

Its subsidiaries included Amira Pure Foods in India, now under investigation, and Amira G Foods in the UK, according to corporate filings.

Amira G Foods, controlled by Chanana, donated 222,104 Pounds to the Conservative party between September 2019 and December 2021. The latest accounts for the UK company show net liabilities of 5.96 million pounds, with its parent company in the British Virgin Islands providing financial support, The Guardian reported.

Amira Nature Foods was delisted from the New York stock exchange in August 2020 after it missed deadlines for filing financial information, The Guardian reported.

A consortium of banks, headed by India's Canara Bank, filed an information report with India's Central Bureau of Investigation in November 2020 alleging bank fraud.

It accused New Delhi-based Amira Pure Foods, Chanana and his fellow directors of "wrongfully and dishonestly" transferring loans into "paper companies" between 2009 and 2018, causing wrongful bank losses of more than 116 million pounds. Amira Pure Foods in India is now under liquidation, The Guardian reported.

The enforcement directorate said it initiated its investigation based on the information report filed by the banks.