Digital Desk: The Rajiv Gandhi Foundation (RGF), a non-governmental
organization linked with the Gandhi family, had its Foreign Contribution
Regulation Act (FCRA) licence revoked by the Centre on Saturday, according to
persons acquainted with the matter.
According to a person familiar with the situation, the decision was made
based on investigations conducted by an inter-ministerial committee constituted
by the ministry of home affairs (MHA) in July 2020.
The official stated that a notice advising the RGF office-bearers of the
termination of the FCRA licence had been sent. RGF had no reaction on the news.
RGF is chaired by
former Congress President Sonia Gandhi, and trustees include former Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh, former Finance Minister P Chidambaram, and members of
Parliament Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
From 1991 until 2009,
RGF worked on a variety of essential issues such as health, science and
technology, women and children, disability support, and so on. According to its
website, the foundation decided to focus on education in the future in 2010.
In July 2020, the MHA
formed an inter-ministerial committee led by an Enforcement Directorate (ED)
investigator to investigate three Gandhi family institutions — Rajiv Gandhi
Foundation (RGF), Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust (RGCT), and Indira Gandhi
Memorial Trust — for probable money laundering.
The committee, which
included officers from the Union home and finance ministries as well as the
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), was tasked with investigating whether
the trusts run by the Gandhi family and other Congress leaders tampered with
documents when filing income taxes or misused and laundered money received from
foreign countries.
Sonia Gandhi's RGGT is
likewise registered under FCRA, however it is unknown if any violations have
been recorded against it. The MHA did not respond to a question addressed by HT
on Saturday.
JP Nadda, the chairman
of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), claimed in June 2020, after a clash
between Indian and Chinese troops in Ladakh, that the People's Republic of
China supplied cash to RGF between 2005 and 2009 to conduct studies that were
not in the national interest.
Nadda further claimed
that the Prime Minister's relief fund had been diverted to the Gandhi family
trust and that the RGF had received monies from fugitive billionaire Mehul
Choksi.
The Embassy of the People's Republic of China and People's
Republic of China is named as one of the donors in RGF's annual report 2005-06,
which is published on their website.
According to an unnamed source close to RGF, the
foundation's FCRA licence has been renewed for shorter durations of three to
six months since 2020.
with tax notices." The government has gradually assured that RGF receives
no foreign money. It has put pressure on donors not to fund it, and the trust's
financial licence has now been revoked," stated this source.
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