Government sets up team to coordinate probe against three Gandhi family trusts for alleged tax violations, money laundering

The government has set up an inter-ministerial team to coordinate probe into the alleged violation of laws on money laundering, income tax and foreign contributions by three trusts linked to the Gandhi family, including the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation (RGF), prompting Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying those who fight for the truth cannot be intimidated.

The decision comes close on the heels of the ruling BJP accusing the RGF of receiving funds from the Chinese embassy during UPA era, as both parties engaged in a war of words over India-China stand off.

A Special Director of the Enforcement Directorate will head the inter-ministerial team, which will also look into the alleged irregularities in Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust (RGCT) and the Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust (IGMT).

"The Ministry of Home Affairs has set up an inter-ministerial committee to coordinate investigations” against the RGF, RGCT and IGMT, a Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) spokesperson said on Wednesday.

The investigators would be looking into the transactions of these trusts under Prevention of Money Laundering (PMLA) Act, Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) and Income Tax Act for violations.

Rahul, who is a member of these trusts headed by his mother and Congress president Sonia Gandhi, tweeted hours after the government announcement, "Mr Modi believes the world is like him. He thinks every one has a price or can be intimidated. He will never understand that those who fight for the truth have no price and cannot be intimidated."

Accusing the government of carrying out a “blind witch hunt”, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said the BJP was applying "double standards" in instituting a probe against these Trusts but such questions are not asked of some "holy cows" close to it. He said they have "nothing to hide, nothing to fear".

"You ask us questions. We are here as law abiding persons to answer, but, you need to be exposed that you don't even ask these questions to many holy cows. You don't ask questions (about the 9th Schedule exemptions that the Gandhi-family run trusts are asked) to Vivekananda Foundation, Overseas Friends of BJP Foundation, India Foundation and for that matter, you do not ask how RSS gets large quantum of money. Whose special arc of protection they enjoy? Have you asked a single similar question to any of the entity, I have asked the names of?" he said.

The BJP defended the government action saying it would not have waited for six years if politics was behind the probe into these issues. It said the order of a probe is the "natural" outcome of information brought out in the public domain recently.

"These transactions are in the 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," BJP general secretary P Muralidhar Rao told reporters, asking Congress leadership to cooperate with the investigation.

The Congress had earlier denied the allegations and countered the BJP saying the PM-CARES fund under Modi had accepted donations from Chinese companies. It also questioned the visits by BJP leaders and exchanges between the BJP and Communist Party of China in the past few years while alleging that the Prime Minister had shared a "strange bonhomie" with China and that he had 18 meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the past few years.

As former Congress president Rahul Gandhi launched an attack on the government's handling of the India-China border row, the BJP had hit back with party president J P Nadda raising the issue of Chinese embassy donations to the RGF.

Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had asked whether it was a "bribe" for lobbying for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two countries.

The latest action also comes days after the government cancelled the allotment of a bungalow to Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, daughter of Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Justifying the decision, the government had said that she was not entitled to the facility after the withdrawal of her Special Protection Group (SPG) security cover in November last year.

Along with Priyanka, the government had withdrawn the SPG cover of Sonia and Rahul too in November. Before this, it had withdrawn the SPG cover of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The RGF, set up in 1991 and headed by Sonia, works to realise "the vision of the former prime minister of a modern India, secular, and progressive; a country that enshrines the democratic principle of equality and blends progress with rich cultural traditions". The trustees include Singh, Rahul. Priyanka, former finance minister P Chidambaram and former deputy chairman of the erstwhile Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia among others.

The RGCT, also headed by Sonia, was set up in 2002 to address the development needs of the underprivileged of the country, especially the rural poor. Besides Rahul, the trustees include Ashok Ganguly and Bansi Mehta.