Govt sets up panel to probe 3 Gandhi family-run trusts

NEWDELHI: The Union government on Wednesday set up an interministerial committee headed by an Enforcement Directorate (ED) officer to investigate the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation (RGF), the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust (RGCT) and the Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust (IGMT) — institutions closely associated with the Nehru-Gandhi family and the Congress — for possible money laundering, income tax violations and foreign funding irregularities.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi is the chairperson of RGF while other trustees include former prime minister Manmohan Singh, former finance minister P Chidambaram, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. Sonia Gandhi also heads RGCT and oversees the work of IGMT as well.

The Congress alleged this was an effort to intimidate the party leadership, which would not succeed, and asked the government to probe finances of organisations closely associated with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

A home ministry spokesperson confirmed the creation of the committee in a tweet, adding that a special director rank officer in ED will supervise the probe. An official familiar with the development, who did want to be named, said officials of home and finance ministries as well as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will be part of the committee. CBI is empowered to investigate any violations under FCRA (Foreign Contribution Regulation Act), while ED and the income tax department, which come under the finance ministry, are responsible for investigations into money laundering and tax violations.

The interministerial committee will verify if the three trusts run by the Gandhi family and other Congress leaders manipulated any documents while filing income tax, and laundered money received from foreign countries. “If it is found that there were irregularities, the concerned agency — CBI, ED or I-T department — will go ahead with a formal probe,” said the official who did not want to be named.

RGCT was set up in 2002 to address the needs of the underprivileged, especially the poor, and primarily works in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. Congress president Sonia Gandhi is the chairperson of the foundation and its trustees include former PM Manmohan Singh, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, P Chidambaram, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Suman Dubey, Ashok Ganguly and Vijay Mahajan.