NEW DELHI
: Six serving officials, including an assistant director posted with the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) division of the MHA, are among the 14 people arrested by the CBI for facilitating clearance to NGOs to obtain foreign grants illegally. The agency has named 36 people as accused in the case and more arrests are likely to follow. Cash totalling Rs 3.21 crore has been seized after Tuesday’s nationwide raids.
The probe has revealed that a network of people in Delhi, TN, Jharkhand, Assam and Manipur orchestrated the scam in collusion with officials. “Accused were involved in corrupt activities for getting backdoor FCRA registration & renewal to NGOs illegally with an objective to continue receiving donations despite not fulfilling prescribed norms,” CBI spokesman RC Joshi said. tnn
The CBI on Tuesday undertook a major operation with nationwide raids conducted across 40 locations as part of a massive crackdown on an alleged nexus between NGOs and some officials of the home ministry, which was facilitating illegal clearance of matters pertaining to Foreign Contribution Regulations Act (FCRA).
Acting on the basis of inputs from the MHA, the agency has carried out several arrests, including those of public servants posted in the home ministry’s FCRA division, who were caught taking bribe. At least six government officials were being questioned on Tuesday, with the investigators unearthing hawala transactions worth at least Rs 2 crore until now.
The CBI raids followed a detailed note sent by the home secretary, as per the orders of home minister Amit Shah, to CBI director Subodh Kumar Jaiswal on March 29.
The note pointed to three FCRA clearance networks that have been allegedly operating in connivance with government officials. These networks have been allegedly charging ‘speed money’ or ‘problem resolution money’ to expedite FCRA nods and resolve issues regarding FCRA clearances and formalities. “On MHA’s input, CBI officials conducted searches at 40 places in Delhi, Rajasthan, Chennai, Hyderabad, Coimbatore and Mysore to nab representatives of NGOs, middlemen and public servants of MHA’s FCRA division,” said an official.
