'Not Politically Motivated' Says BJP As MHA Forms Panel To Probe Three Gandhi Family Trusts

The probe will focus on the alleged violation of laws like the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), Income Tax Act, Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act by the Gandhi family-run trusts, said a Home Ministry tweet.

New Delhi, Jul 8: Bringing the spotlight on the Gandhi family once again and trace the alleged wrongdoing in financial dealings, three trusts linked them will be investigated by a government panel, the Centre said on Wednesday. Also Read: Coronavirus: India’s Total Covid-19 Tally Jumps To 7,42,417; Recovery Rate Over 61% The Home Ministry has formed an inter-ministerial committee to coordinate investigations into alleged income tax and foreign donation rules violation by Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust, and Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust, the ministry's spokesperson tweeted on Wednesday.

The investigations will focus on the alleged violation of laws like the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), Income Tax Act, Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act by the Gandhi family-run trusts, added the Tweet. The panel will be headed by the special director of the Enforcement Directorate, as per the Home Ministry. (FILE PIC/AFP) The Rajiv Gandhi Foundation was set up in June 1991 and the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust in 2002; both are headed by Congress president Sonia Gandhi. However, the opposition party has denied any wrongdoing and calls the investigation "political vendetta". In June, the ruling BJP has accused the Congress and pointed at the Manmohan Singh government for of "brazen fraud"  in which it donated money from the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund to the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation. In its attack on Congress, BJP president JP Nadda had said, PMNRF, meant to help people in distress, was donating money to Rajiv Gandhi Foundation in UPA years. Who sat on the PMNRF board? Smt. Sonia Gandhi Who chairs RGF? Smt. Sonia Gandhi. Totally reprehensible, disregarding ethics, processes and not bothering about transparency," Nadda had said. Congress president Sonia Gandhi is chief of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation and the board includes Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, P Chidambaram and Manmohan Singh. It was also alleged that the former finance minister Manmohan Singh in his Budget speech in 1991, had allocated Rs 100 crore to the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation. Govt would not have waited for six years if politics was behind probe into RGF transactions: BJP The central government's order of a probe into transactions of trusts linked to the Nehru-Gandhi family is a "natural" outcome of information brought out in the public domain recently, the BJP said on Wednesday. BJP general secretary P Muralidhar Rao also rejected the charge that the government's decision is politically motivated, saying it would not have waited for six years had this been true. Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government came to power in 2014 and won a second mandate in 2019. "These transactions are in 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," Rao told reporters. He said the Congress leadership should cooperate with the investigation. (With additional information from PTI)