Why FCRA license of Rajiv Gandhi Foundation cancelled?
This came after an inter-ministerial committee formed by the Ministry of Home Affairs investigated into violation of various legal provisions of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act.
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New Delhi, Oct 24: The Central government 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 violations of the foreign funding law.
Why the FCRA license was canceled?
This came after an inter-ministerial committee formed by the Ministry of Home Affairs investigated into violation of various legal provisions of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act. The RGF was found violating norms of the FCRA.
The committee formed by the MHA in July 2020 has pointed its findings about the violations of various FCRA norms that have resulted in the cancellation of the registration of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, which was established in 1991, the officer privy to the development said.
An inquiry started against the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation in July 2020 when the MHA constituted an inter-ministerial committee headed by an Enforcement Directorate (ED) officer to investigate three Gandhi family foundations-- Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, 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 MHA, Ministry of Finance as well as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), and was mandated to investigate if the 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. Soon after the cancellation of its FCRA licensce registration, the officer said, a written notice has been dispatched to the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation and its office-bearers.
Former Congress President Sonia Gandhi is the chairperson of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation. Among other trustees of the NGO are former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, former Finance Minister P Chidambaram, and members of Parliament Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
Besides, BJP president Jagat Prakash Nadda had on 25 June, 2022 alleged that RGF had accepted a donation of $300,000 from China during 2005-06. "I was surprised to see that Rajiv Gandhi Foundation had received a donation of $300,000 from People’s Republic of China and Chinese embassy. These donations were then used to carry out studies and promote free trade in the country. There are many ways of corruption and Congress party should explain what studies were carried out using these donations," Nadda had said.
According to the official website of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, the organisation has worked on various issues in the sectors of health, science and technology, women and children and disability support from 1991 to 2009. The foundation decided to focus on education in 2010, the website mentioned.
Bharati Web
Mes, Pune
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