MHA forms panel to probe three Gandhi family trusts
   Date :09-Jul-2020

three Gandhi family trust
 
 
NEW DELHI :
 
Special Director in the ED will head the inter-ministerial team
 
 
THE Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has set up an inter-ministerial committee to probe alleged violations of legal provisions by three Gandhi family trusts, namely Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust, and Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust. The committee led by a Special Director of the Enforcement Directorate will coordinate investigations into alleged violation of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), Income Tax Act, and Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) by these foundations, a Ministry spokesperson tweeted on Wednesday.
 
The Rajiv Gandhi Foundation was established on June 21, 1991, to work on a range of issues, including literacy, health, disability, empowerment of the underprivileged, livelihood, and natural resources management. Its current focus areas are education, disability, and natural resources management. Congress President Sonia Gandhi is present Chairperson of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation while former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and party leader P Chidambaram are members of the board.
 
The Centre’s move followed recent allegations levelled by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party against the Congress and the Gandhi family, claiming that China had funded the RGF. Last month, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, citing ‘documentary proof’, sought an explanation from the Congress as to why the Chinese Embassy had donated about Rs 90 lakh to the Foundation. The Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in India and the Government of the People’s Republic of China are alleged donors to the Foundation. A petition has also been filed in the Supreme Court to seek a probe into the memorandum of understanding between the Congress and the Communist Party of China in 2008. 
 
Probe order not politically motivated: BJP
 
NEW DELHI,
 
July 8 (PTI)
 
THE Central Government’s order of a probe into transactions of trusts linked to the Nehru-Gandhi family is a “natural” outcome of information brought out in the public domain recently, the BJP said on Wednesday. BJP General Secretary P Muralidhar Rao also rejected the charge that Government’s decision is politically motivated, saying it would not have waited for six years had this been true.
 
Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Government came to power in 2014 and won a second mandate in 2019. “These transactions are in public domain. Our Government is committed to transparency. It is natural to investigate these transactions after so much information was recently brought out in public domain,” Rao told reporters. He said that the Congress leadership should cooperate with the investigation.