Central Government revokes license of Rajiv Gandhi Foundation and Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust for violating foreign funding laws

NEW DELHI: The Central Home Ministry has canceled the license of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation and Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust for violating foreign funding laws for illegally accepting funds from foreign countries, including China. The ministry canceled the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act license of both organizations.

Congress leader, Sonia Gandhi, is the chairperson of both the NGOs. There is a possibility of a CBI inquiry into the matter.

After several allegations were raised against the organizations a committee was formed to probe into it. The committee was led by ED Special Director and consisted of representatives from the home department, finance department, and CBI. This committee found irregularities in the transactions and a report has been submitted to the home ministry.

The committee looked into black money transactions and violations of tax laws. Also, the investigation into another Congress-backed trust, Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust, is ongoing. However, no action has been taken against this trust.

The Rajiv Gandhi Foundation was formed in 1991 with Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, Manmohan Singh, P Chidambaram, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Suman Dubey, and Asok Ganguly as trustees. The Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust, formed for the welfare of the poor and destitute, in 2002, have Rahul Gandhi, Ashok Ganguly, Bansi Mehta, and Deep Joshi as its trustees. The offices of these organizations are situated in Jawahar Bhavan at Rajendra Prasad Road in Delhi.

The allegations against the NGOs are serious. The BJP had alleged that the organizations received funds from China and also from fugitive Mehul Choksi. Also, during the UPA era, the funds that came into Prime Minister’s disaster fund were diverted to the NGOs.

Another allegation leveled by BJP President, JP Nadda, was that the Chinese Embassy during 2005-06 had given $300,000 to Rajiv Gandhi Foundation. The website of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation has stated that China is its partner. Nadda also pointed out that in the 1991 budget presented by Manmohan Singh, Rs.100 crore was given to Rajiv Gandhi Foundation.

In addition, Subramaniyan Swamy said that the building constructed by Rajiv Gandhi Foundation is being used as a Congress office and demanded an inquiry into it.