Govt cancels FCRA licence of Rajiv Gandhi Foundation
A notice informing about the cancellation of the FCRA licence has been sent to the office-bearers of RGF, the officer said. RGF did not comment on the development.
The Centre has cancelled the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) licence of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation (RGF), a non-government organisation associated with the Gandhi family, for alleged violations of the foreign funding law, people familiar with the development said on Saturday.
The decision, a person aware of the matter said, has been taken based on investigations carried out by an inter-ministerial committee formed by the ministry of home affairs (MHA) in July 2020.
A notice informing about the cancellation of the FCRA licence has been sent to the office-bearers of RGF, the officer said. RGF did not comment on the development.
Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi is the chairperson of RGF while other trustees include former prime minister Manmohan Singh, former finance minister P Chidambaram, and members of Parliament Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
Set up in 1991, RGF worked on a number of critical issues including health, science and technology, women and children, disability support, etc., from 1991 till 2009. In 2010, the foundation decided to focus on education going forward, its website says.
The foundation came under the scanner in July 2020, when the MHA set up an inter-ministerial committee headed by an Enforcement Directorate (ED) officer to investigate three Gandhi family foundations — Rajiv Gandhi Foundation (RGF), Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust (RGCT) and Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust — for possible violations of the money laundering act, Income Tax act and FCRA.
The committee comprised officers from the Union home and finance ministries as well as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), and was mandated to investigate if these trusts run by the Gandhi family and other Congress leaders manipulated any documents while filing income tax or misused and laundered money received from foreign countries.
RGGT, also headed by Sonia Gandhi, is also registered under FCRA but it is not known if any violation has been found against it. The MHA did not comment on a query sent by HT on Saturday.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief JP Nadda alleged in June 2020 amid a face-off between India and Chinese troops in Ladakh that the People’s Republic of China gave funds to RGF between 2005 and 2009 to carry out studies that were not in national interest.
Nadda also alleged that the Prime Minister’s relief fund was diverted to the Gandhi family trust and that RGF received funds from fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi as well.
According to annual report 2005-06 of RGF, available on its website, the Embassy of The People’s Republic of China and People’s Republic of China is listed as one of the donors in “partner organisations and donors”.
A person close to RGF, who did not want to be named, said the foundation’s FCRA licence was renewed for shorter periods of three to six months since 2020.
“The whole business of targeting (Gandhis trusts) started with tax notices. Gradually, the government has ensured that there is no foreign funding to RGF. It has pressured donors to not fund it and now the trust’s funding licence has been cancelled,” said this person.