News Desk: The Gandhi family is in the crosshairs again and it seems like trouble follows the family. An Inter-Ministerial Committee has been organized by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to coordinate investigations against Nehru-Gandhi family linked trusts.
Three Nehru-Gandhi family linked trusts, including the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation (RGF), were alleged to have breached various laws like money laundering and foreign contributions.
The committee will be headed by the Special Director of Enforcement Directorate. The committee will also oversee the inquiry into the presumed violations by Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust and Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust.
A Home Ministry spokesperson tweeted: “MHA sets up inter-ministerial committee to coordinate investigations into violation of various legal provisions of PMLA, Income Tax Act, FCRA, etc by Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust & Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust. Spl. Dir of ED will head the committee.”
The Spokesperson also confirmed that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will also take part in the investigation.
This decision came after BJP Chief JP Nadda questioned the donation of $300,000 that RGF received from the People’s Republic of China and the Chinese Embassy in 2005-2006 to carry out studies that were not in national interest.
Nadda also claimed that funds from Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund were diverted to the ‘family-run’ Rajiv Gandhi Foundation during the regime of the UPA government.
Ravi Shankar Prasad, Telecom Minister also uplifted the issue and said: “The donors list of RGF annual report in 2005-06 clearly shows that it received a donation from the Embassy of People’s Republic of China. We want to know why this donation was taken.”
In the 2005-2006 annual report, the RGF mentioned the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China as one of the “partner organizations and donors.”
The RGF was set up in 1991. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, and P Chidambaram are trustees of RGF and Sonia Gandhi is the Chairperson of RGF and Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust.
Image Source: Internet