Temporary breather to Teesta Setalvad’s NGOs

New Delhi

Government has given a temporary relief to social activist Teesta Setalvad’s two NGOs, which allegedly violated Foreign Currency Regulation Act, by allowing them more time to reply to its showcause notices.

Sabarang Trust and Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP), run by Teesta and her husband Javed Anand, were served the notices nearly a month ago following an on-site inspection of their records and books of accounts carried out by Home Ministry officials in April this year.

“Even after almost a month, no reply has come from the two NGOs. We have extended the deadline by a fortnight and asked them to reply by mid-July to our showcause notices. If the NGOs do not reply even then, we will have no option but to cancel their FCRA registration,” a Home Ministry official said.

During the probe under Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), Home Ministry officials found that Teesta and her husband were running a magazine “Communalism Combat” as co-editors as well as printer and publisher of their company Sabrang Communication and Publishing Pvt Ltd (SCPPL) and allegedly received foreign contribution.

Under FCRA, no foreign contribution shall be accepted by any correspondent, columnist, cartoonist, editor, owner, printer or publisher of a registered newspaper.

CJP, which has been fighting cases for victims of 2002 Gujarat riots, had received a total foreign contribution of around Rs 1.18 crore from 2008-09 to 2013-14.

According to the notice, more than 80 per cent or nearly Rs 95 lakh was spent for legal aid.

While the entity was registered for ‘Educational and Economic’ purposes, it received foreign contribution for activities such as ‘Legal Aid’ which is covered under purpose ‘Social’. Hence, it violated FCRA rules, they contended.

“On review of vouchers of the association, it was found that Sabrang Trust has made payment of Rs 12 lakh from FCRA-designated account to Citi Bank and Union Bank of India on account of credit facilities taken through credit cards belonging to Setalvad and Anand.

“This amounts to use of foreign contribution for the purposes not authorised as per the provisions of FCRA 2010.

Thus, the association has violated Section 8(1) (a) of FCRA 2010,” the Home Ministry notice said.

The Home Ministry investigation also found that Anand had taken international medical policy for visiting Lahore and debited the amount in the account of Sabrang Trust.

Further, even book purchases and travel expenses incurred by him to attend meetings with People’s Union For Civil Liberties (PUCL) were debited in the account of Sabrang Trust allegedly in violation of Section 8(1)(a) of FCRA.

It was also found that Rs 50 lakh were allegedly transferred by Sabrang Trust to SCPPL which is not registered under FCRA.

FCRA rules prohibit transfer of foreign contribution to non-FCRA account unless such entity is also registered and had been granted the certificate or obtained prior permission under this Act.

Various alleged irregularities like administrative expenditure exceeding more than 50 per cent were also found during the investigation.

Besides, different figures towards expenses incurred on legal aid in the books of accounts and in the receipts of payment accounts, closing balance of the proceeding year was allegedly not reported as opening balance and even the funds received from United Nations were not found in the bank statement, according to sources.

Government has already asked CBI to probe the receipt of over Rs 3 crore by Sabrang Communication and Publishing Pvt Limited from foreign donors, including US-based Ford Foundation, in alleged violation of FCRA.

It had also frozen the bank account of the Mumbai-located firm as the Home Ministry claimed that it was not authorised to receive funds from abroad as it was not registered under FCRA.

PTI