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FCRA licence of Sonam Wangchuk's organisation cancelled over financial 'irregularities', he reacts
The Centre has blamed Sonam Wangchuk for inciting the violence in Ladakh, by misleading the people through provocative mentions of Arab Spring-style protests.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Thursday cancelled the FCRA licence of Students' Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL), founded by climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, with “immediate effect”.
The development comes a day after four people were killed in widespread clashes between protesters supporting the movement for statehood to Ladakh and security personnel amid a shutdown in Leh. Follow LIVE updates here.
The Centre has blamed Wangchuk for inciting the violence in Ladakh on Wednesday, by misleading the people through provocative mentions of Arab Spring-style protests and references to the recent Gen Z protests in Nepal.
In Thursday's action against Wangchuk's organisation, the home minister said that it was based on several alleged discrepancies detected in the accounts of the organisation, including a fund transfer from Sweden which the ministry found was against "national interest".
The order said the Wangchuk-led organisation was granted the licence to accept foreign contributions for undertaking cultural and educational programmes.
The home ministry had earlier issued a show cause notice to SECMOL, seeking an explanation for various irregularities observed in the organisation's finances.
It was alleged that during the financial year 2021-22, Wangchuk deposited ₹3.5 lakh into the FCRA account of the association in violation of section 17 of the Act.
According to SECMOL's explanation, the sale proceeds of the old bus procured on July 14, 2015, were from FCRA funds. It said the sale proceeds for any asset procured from FCRA funds need to be deposited only in FCRA's account as per the guidelines.
The ministry said that the amount was received in cash, in violation of section 17 of the Act, which the organisation did not properly disclose in its reply.
"Further, an amount of ₹3.35 lakh has been intimated by the association...as FC donation from Sonam Wangchuk. However. this transaction is not reflected in FCRA Account in violation of section 18 of the Act," it said.
The ministry also flagged another transfer of ₹54,600 local funds to the organisation's FCRA accounts, which the latter claimed was a mistake.
The ministry also examined a foreign contribution from Sweden of around ₹4.93 lakh to create awareness among youth on issues such as migration, climate change, global warming, food security and sovereignty, and organic farming through different workshops and trainings.
The ministry rejected SECMOL's argument that the funds were utilised strictly in line with the organisation's objectives for educational purposes only. The ministry said the foreign contribution cannot be accepted for study on the sovereignty of the nation as it is against "national interests".
Sonam Wangchuk alleges “witch hunt”
On his part, activist Sonam Wangchuk said that the government's action are part of “witch hunt” against him. He also alleged that all the blame of the violent clashes in Leh is being put on him.
“A day later (after Leh protests), the Home Ministry of India issued a press release naming Sonam Wangchuk in it and blaming him... I had received a notice about a CBI inquiry stating that your organisation received foreign funding even when it did not have FCRA. We did not get FCRA because we don't want funds from abroad,” he told ANI.
"United Nations team wanted to take our Passive Solar Heated Building to Afghanistan, and for this, they gave us a fee. We also got fees with tax from Switzerland and Italy organisations for supplying knowledge to them about our artificial glaciers...We are getting I-T summons. In the series of witch hunting, yesterday's events were the last and all blame was put on Sonam Wangchuk." he added.
