ED searches beneficiaries of George Soros' OSF in a FEMA probe
Officials said premises of individuals who had previously received funds from OSF for its activities in India were being searched
New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday raided several premises in Bengaluru linked to certain beneficiaries of American billionaire George Soros-founded Open Society Foundations (OSF) in connection with a foreign exchange violation probe, people familiar with the development said.
Officials said that premises of individuals who had previously received funds from OSF for its activities in India were being searched under foreign exchange management act (FEMA).
The federal agency didn’t disclose the names of beneficiaries, but officials suggested that some of them were earlier associated with Amnesty India.
Officers familiar with the developing situation said raids are being conducted at eight premises in Bangalore to investigate the FEMA contraventions by Soros EDF and Open Source Foundation.
Preliminary investigation by ED has revealed that Soros OSF was put under Prior Reference Category by MHA in 2016, which restricted it from giving unregulated donations to NGOs in India.
In order to bypass this restriction, OSF had allegedly set up subsidiaries in India and brought in funds in the form of FDI and consultancy fees. These funds were then used to fund activities of the NGOs, which is a FEMA contravention.
ED is also examining the end use of other FDI funds brought in by Soros EDF and OSF.
ED also searched Aspada Investments Pvt Ltd, which is the investment advisor/fund manager of SEDF in India and is a wholly owned subsidiary of a Mauritius entity, the officials quoted above said.
Under FEMA, ED investigates flow of foreign funds to individuals and entities and their utilisation. Enacted in 1999 after repealing the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA) of 1973, FEMA is a civil law meant to consolidate and amend the laws relating to facilitate external trade and payments and to promote the orderly development and maintenance of foreign exchange market in India. ED is the sole agency given the responsibility to conduct investigation into suspected contraventions of foreign exchange laws and regulations, to adjudicate and impose penalties on those adjudged to have contravened the law.
HT has reached out to OSF media office for comments on ED searches.
OSF is one of the world’s largest private funders of groups supporting human rights, advocacy, impact investment, strategic litigation, justice and accountable government. It had started working in India in 1999 but officials familiar with its activities said the organisation doesn’t have any office in India.
On its website, OSF says “since mid-2016, our grant making in India has been constrained by government restrictions on our funding for local NGOs.”
The website states that since 1999, more than 650 students have received scholarships from Open Society to attend some of India’s top colleges and universities. “Our social impact investing began in 2008, when we joined with Google, the Omidyar Network, and the Indian School of Business to create the $18 million SONG Fund,” it adds.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government at the Centre has linked former Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi with George Sorros.
In December 2024, BJP leader Nishikant Dubey levelled a slew of allegations saying the Congress was working with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), a global journalism project backed by Soros’s Open Society Foundation, and was trying to disrupt Parliament and derail the government.
BJP Lok Sabha MP Sambit Patra also alleged that Gandhi was part of a “triangle” with Soros and OCCRP aimed at destabilising India.
