The Home Ministry has formed an inter-ministerial committee to coordinate investigations into alleged income tax and foreign donation rules violation by Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust, and Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust, the ministry’s spokesperson tweeted this morning.
The investigations will focus on the alleged violation of laws like the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), Income Tax Act, Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act by the Gandhi family-run trusts, said a Home Ministry tweet.
The special director of the Enforcement Directorate will head the committee, the Home Ministry said.
The Rajiv Gandhi Foundation was established on June 21, 1991. The foundation works on a range of issues, including literacy, health, disability, empowerment of the underprivileged, livelihood and natural resource management. Its current focus areas are education, disability and natural resource management.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi is the Chairperson of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, former Congress President Rahul Gandhi, his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram are members of the board.
The Centre’s move followed recent allegations launched by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on the Congress and the Gandhi family claiming that China had funded the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation.
Last month, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, citing some documentary proof, sought an explanation from the Congress to explain why the Chinese Embassy donated about Rs 90 lakh to the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation.
The Congress has denied any wrongdoing and calls the investigation “political vendetta”. the Congress had said that RGF issue raised by the BJP was a “manufactured charge” and “diversionary tactic” to deflect attention from the border tensions at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) between India and China.
Last month, the ruling BJP accused the Congress of “brazen fraud”, alleging that when it was in power, the Manmohan Singh government donated money from the Prime Minister’s National relief Fund to the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation
