Home Ministry cancels FCRA licences of two NGOs headed by Sonia Gandhi

Priyanka Gandhi meets physically disabled people given scooters by Rajiv Gandhi Foundation. File pic/AFP

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs has cancelled the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) licences of two NGOs headed by Congress leader Sonia Gandhi for alleged violation of laws, officials said on Sunday.

The NGOs came under the scanner in July 2020 after the MHA set up an inter-ministerial committee headed by an Enforcement Directorate officer to probe possible violations of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, the Income Tax Act and the FCRA. The investigators covered alleged manipulation of documents while filing income-tax returns, misuse of funds and money laundering while receiving funds from foreign nations, including China.

The FCRA licences of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation (RGF) and the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust (RGCT) were cancelled based on the panel's report, an official said.

Sonia Gandhi is the chairperson of both RGF and RGCT. RGF's trustees include former PM Manmohan Singh, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi. Rahul is also one of the trustees of the RGCT.

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Set up in 1991, the RGF worked on education, health, science and technology, women and children and disability support, until 2009, according to its website. The RGCT was established in 2002 to address the development needs of the underprivileged people, especially the rural poor. It currently works in the poorest regions of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.

During the Army's face-off with China's People's Liberation Army in Ladakh in 2020, BJP president J P Nadda had alleged that China gave funds to the RGF between 2005 and 2009 to carry out studies that were not in national interest. He had also alleged that money from the Prime Minister's Relief Fund was diverted to the RGF, which also received funds from fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi.

The BJP had also questioned whether the funds received by the RGF were a "bribe" for lobbying for a free-trade agreement between India and China.
According to the RGF's annual report of 2005-06, available on its website, the embassy of the China is listed as one of its donors under "partner organisations and donors".

2020
Year the probe into the two NGOs began

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