11-14-2006, 01:48 AM
NGO clean-up: 8000 under watch
RITU SARIN
Posted online: Thursday, November 09, 2006 at 0000 hrs IST
New Delhi, November 8
As the Cabinet tomorrow considers a proposal to repeal the Foreign Contributions Regulation Act (FCRA), 1976, and replace it with a new law to regulate alleged diversion and misuse of foreign funds received by NGOs, the cleaning up has begun.
<b>Figures reveal that some 32,000 organisations receive foreign funds to the tune of Rs 6,000 crore with the current yearâs FCRA receipts showing a Rs 1,000-crore jump over the previous year.</b>
Last year, the Ministry of Home Affairs put 8,673 organisations on the âprior permissionâ list since they had neither completed their paperwork nor turned in the required returns.
This list had been put up on the MHA website and since then, only 300-odd organisations been taken off the watchlist.
In some cases, criminal prosecution is now underway since several recipients were found to have used the FCRA allegedly for illegal purposes. A shortlist of such FCRA cases has been referred to the Central Bureau of Investigation and 59 more organisations have been put on a blacklist.
Yet another list of 11 organisations has been prepared to restrain them from utilising or transferring the foreign funds received via the FCRA route. <b>The lists reveal a majority of the recipients are located in Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh.
</b>
FCRA officials said that of the bunch of cases referred to the CBI, two have already resulted in Regular Cases (RCs). The first case, registered last year involves the Abdul Kalam Azad Islamic Awakening Centre located in New Delhi. The organisation was found to have received FCRA funds in accounts in Saudi Arabia for which it faced penal action from the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
<b>The CBI found that one of the donors in Saudi Arabia was using funds for converting non-Muslims to Islam and another was non-existent as a result of a crackdown imposed by the Saudi Government. </b>A chargesheet has also been filed and the case is pending trial.
<b>The other religious organisation facing the CBI heat for FCRA violations is the Kolkata-based Central Kolkata Lord Jesus Medical and Welfare Society, which is alleged to have received funds to the tune of Rs 1.2 crore without FCRA permission.
</b>
The chief functionary of the organisation was found to have routed the funds for his personal use and under-declared the quantum of foreign contributions. The CBI is waiting the notification of the West Bengal Government to proceed with prosecution in the case.
RITU SARIN
Posted online: Thursday, November 09, 2006 at 0000 hrs IST
New Delhi, November 8
As the Cabinet tomorrow considers a proposal to repeal the Foreign Contributions Regulation Act (FCRA), 1976, and replace it with a new law to regulate alleged diversion and misuse of foreign funds received by NGOs, the cleaning up has begun.
<b>Figures reveal that some 32,000 organisations receive foreign funds to the tune of Rs 6,000 crore with the current yearâs FCRA receipts showing a Rs 1,000-crore jump over the previous year.</b>
Last year, the Ministry of Home Affairs put 8,673 organisations on the âprior permissionâ list since they had neither completed their paperwork nor turned in the required returns.
This list had been put up on the MHA website and since then, only 300-odd organisations been taken off the watchlist.
In some cases, criminal prosecution is now underway since several recipients were found to have used the FCRA allegedly for illegal purposes. A shortlist of such FCRA cases has been referred to the Central Bureau of Investigation and 59 more organisations have been put on a blacklist.
Yet another list of 11 organisations has been prepared to restrain them from utilising or transferring the foreign funds received via the FCRA route. <b>The lists reveal a majority of the recipients are located in Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh.
</b>
FCRA officials said that of the bunch of cases referred to the CBI, two have already resulted in Regular Cases (RCs). The first case, registered last year involves the Abdul Kalam Azad Islamic Awakening Centre located in New Delhi. The organisation was found to have received FCRA funds in accounts in Saudi Arabia for which it faced penal action from the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
<b>The CBI found that one of the donors in Saudi Arabia was using funds for converting non-Muslims to Islam and another was non-existent as a result of a crackdown imposed by the Saudi Government. </b>A chargesheet has also been filed and the case is pending trial.
<b>The other religious organisation facing the CBI heat for FCRA violations is the Kolkata-based Central Kolkata Lord Jesus Medical and Welfare Society, which is alleged to have received funds to the tune of Rs 1.2 crore without FCRA permission.
</b>
The chief functionary of the organisation was found to have routed the funds for his personal use and under-declared the quantum of foreign contributions. The CBI is waiting the notification of the West Bengal Government to proceed with prosecution in the case.