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NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday registered a case against prominent NGO Oxfam India and it’s office bearers for alleged violation of provisions of Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA).
The home ministry had earlier recommended a CBI probe against Oxfam India for alleged violations of the FCRA, such as diversion of foreign donations received by it to other NGOs.
The purported FCRA violations referred to CBI for probe include continued transfer of Oxfam India’s foreign receipts to other entities even after FCRA was amended on September 29, 2020 to ban such transfers.
Among the NGOs to which Oxfam India passed on or routed its foreign funds are Centre for Policy Research (CPR), which recently had its FCRA licence suspended amid an ongoing I-T probe, and Aman Biradari, activist Harsh Mander’s NGO also facing a CBI probe for allegedly receiving foreign funding without being registered under FCRA.
The home ministry had in December 2021 rejected Oxfam India’s application for renewal of FCRA licence, citing FCRA violations and “public interest’.
This rendered the regional affiliate of Oxfam International family ineligible to receive or utilise funds from foreign sources.
In January 2022, Oxfam’s FCRA accounts were inspected by MHA. All these actions came as part of MHA’s concerted crackdown — directly supervised by home minister Amit Shah — on NGOs allegedly acting in contravention of FCRA and Foreign Contribution Regulation Rules, 2011 (FCRR). Both FCRA and FCRR were made more stringent through amendments in 2020.
The home ministry had earlier recommended a CBI probe against Oxfam India for alleged violations of the FCRA, such as diversion of foreign donations received by it to other NGOs.
The purported FCRA violations referred to CBI for probe include continued transfer of Oxfam India’s foreign receipts to other entities even after FCRA was amended on September 29, 2020 to ban such transfers.
Among the NGOs to which Oxfam India passed on or routed its foreign funds are Centre for Policy Research (CPR), which recently had its FCRA licence suspended amid an ongoing I-T probe, and Aman Biradari, activist Harsh Mander’s NGO also facing a CBI probe for allegedly receiving foreign funding without being registered under FCRA.
The home ministry had in December 2021 rejected Oxfam India’s application for renewal of FCRA licence, citing FCRA violations and “public interest’.
This rendered the regional affiliate of Oxfam International family ineligible to receive or utilise funds from foreign sources.
In January 2022, Oxfam’s FCRA accounts were inspected by MHA. All these actions came as part of MHA’s concerted crackdown — directly supervised by home minister Amit Shah — on NGOs allegedly acting in contravention of FCRA and Foreign Contribution Regulation Rules, 2011 (FCRR). Both FCRA and FCRR were made more stringent through amendments in 2020.
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