The COVID-19 pandemic brought the world closer as different countries stood in solidarity in its fight against the common enemy. With the focus to put an end to this dreading pandemic, we have seen countries help out one another in more ways than one. Unfortunately, it's not the same for all the countries. Pakistan has found itself at the centre of a major COVID aid scam, wherein PAK-linked charities based in the US started collecting funds in the name of helping India in its COVID crisis but financed terror groups, Islamists and PAK army.
On April 26, President Joe Biden offered to help India at the time of its crisis and acknowledged that "India was there for us and we will be there for them." This vote of confidence appears to have inspired many in the US to come forward and help the country of 1.3 billion people. Taking advantage of the situation, several fundraisers were held in the US by charities run from Pakistan. These charities tapped into the emotion of Pakistan, which has a long history of enmity with India, standing with its neighbour at the time of such a crisis.
According to a report by DisinfoLab, a charity organisation by the name of IMANA, which has been running aid-campaign on social media platforms such as Instagram, managed to raise funds beyond its expected target, which kept increasing. IMANA is short for Islamic Medical Association of North America and based in Illinois. The organisation made grand claims on Instagram but offered little transparency on how it spent crores of rupees, according to DisinfoLab.
COVID aid scam
The report identified various red flags in IMANA's #HelpIndiaBreathe campaign on Instagram, which was started in late-April with an initial target of Rs 1.8 crore. IMANA managed to get a huge response from Instagram alone, raising Rs 8.7 crore. The target was revised twice, once to Rs 3 crore and then again to Rs 5.62 crore as and when they were met. Using the same campaign on the crowd-funding platform Just Giving, the charity raised another Rs 2 crore and also pushed donation options on many websites and on Facebook, but it remains unclear how much was raised.
Gathering all the available information about IMANA's fundraising on various platforms, DisinfoLab revealed the charity managed to raise anywhere from Rs 30 crore to Rs 158 crore.
Up until the fund-raising, everything seemed normal, but things started to get fishy when it came to actually help the needy in India as intended. Dr Ismail Mehr, the chairman of IMANA, in a recent interview, made some extremely tall claims, ranging from providing 100K nasal cannulas, 40K non-breather masks, 450 oxygen concentrators, tying up with Air India for free logistics, having on-ground workers and even partnering with DRDO and Ministry of Agriculture for coordination.
But the ground reality turns out to be entirely different. The said medical supplies never reached Delhi, rather, over 100 oxygen concentrators sent to Gujarat was allegedly in association with another organisation, which raised its own funds for COVID relief. The report highlighted similar efforts portrayed by the organisation, but never saw the light of the day. It found IMANA's links with other charities, such as Saiyad Foundation, which also made several claims without backing of subsequent events.
Highlights of COVID aid scam
IMANA collected money in the name of Covid crisis in India from all over the world, including from countries where India had sent Covid vaccines, and thereby exploiting the goodwill that India and the Indians have.
IMANA remained opaque about everything, from fund collection to its actual deliveries. Its Chairman nonetheless seems capable of fluent lie in fluent English, who claimed to have robust ground network of 'Hindu and Sikh' friends. (Only he could explain the point of emphasising religions). He was also in touch with DRDO and Indian Ministry of Agriculture for distributing the help (sic).
However, in terms of delivery, till date they could manage 100-odd concentrators (that too in association with Saiyed Foundation which itself was collecting funds for same.) And at the end, the help is sent to GSWT affiliated Shifa Hospital, whose staff was arrested for illegal activities related to essential medicines during the crisis.
Moving on to next target
The report also highlighted that the IMANA is now setting up fundraisers to help people in Palestine. This was after the COVID started to subside in India. It is now raising funds for Gaza since May 18 and it claims to have provided $2 million worth medical help in Gaza and meals to 12,000 people.
Where do these funds go?
According to the report, IMANA allegedly routes its funds through various organisations, only to eventually reach the terrorists, Islamists or Pakistan Army. Only a fraction of the total funds raised go anywhere close to helping people as intended, the report said.
"IMANA provides 'help' to Pakistan through Al-Mustafa Welfare Trust (AMT), according to IMANA Care 2020 Annual Report. The AMT is nothing but part of Pakistan's Milbus 'military capital', that is used for the personal benefit of the Pak Army fraternity, especially the officer cadre, but is neither recorded nor part of the defence budget," the report notes.
The report also established links between IMANA and Al Khidmat, which has extensive ties with Hamas. According to the report, funds worth tens of crores have been stolen and used for terror funding.
