Committee will probe alleged violations of money laundering Actand the FCRA
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has constituted an interministerial committee to probe alleged violation of various legal provisions by three NGOs — the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation (RGF), the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust (RGCT) and the Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust (IGMT). All the three nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) are linked to the Congress, and party president Sonia Gandhi is the chairperson of the RGF and the RGCT. A senior official of the Enforcement Directorate will head the committee.
‘Cannot be intimidated’
Reacting to the MHA’s decision, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi tweeted, “Mr. Modi believes the world is like him. He thinks every one has a price or can be intimidated. He will never understand that those who fight for the truth have no price and cannot be intimidated.” An MHA spokesperson tweeted on Wednesday, “MHA sets up interministerial committee to coordinate investigations into violation of various legal provisions of PMLA, Income Tax Act, FCRA, etc. by Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust & Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust. Spl. Dir of ED will head the committee.” The composition of the committee is not known yet nor are its terms of reference. The violations mentioned in the spokesperson’s tweet pertain to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, the Income Tax Act and the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA). As per the MHA website, both the RGF and the RGCT are registered FCRA associations, a prerequisite for NGOs and other associations to receive foreign donations. The Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust is not a FCRA registered association. According to the latest annual returns filed by the RGF in December 2019, the NGO received zero foreign donations in 201819 but the total foreign contribution in its account carried forward from previous years is ₹14,03,64,727. The annual returns filed by the RGCT show that it received ₹23,24,35,975 from foreign donors in 201819, and the total donations in its FCRA account stood at ₹85,13,65,166. A sizeable part of the RGCT’s foreign donation in 201819 — ₹23,06,03,400 — came from the U.S.based Bill Melinda Gates Foundation. The RGCT website says that it is a “registered, not
forprofit organisation” and was “established in 2002 to address the development needs of the underprivileged of the country, especially the rural poor.”
BJP’s charge
Recently, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party had alleged that the RGF continuously received donations from the Chinese embassy between 2006 and 2009. The allegations came in the middle of a buildup of Chinese troops along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh and the June 15 incident at the Galwan Valley, during which 20 Indian soldiers were killed
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