CBI To Probe Foreign Fund Transfer To Teesta-Linked Firm, Freezes Account

26 June, New Delhi

Central Government Friday ordered a CBI probe into transfer of funds by US-based Ford Foundation to Sabrang Communication and Publishing Pvt Limited with which social activist Teesta Stelvad is associated.

The firm is allegedly in violation of rules of rules of Foreign Contributions Regulation Act (FCRA) in accepting a donation of 2.9 lakh US dollars from Ford Foundation without getting clearance of the Home Ministry.

According to rules, an organisation or a private firm can accept donations from overseas only after it is registered under FCRA. This donation was, therefore, a serious violation of FCRA provisions which mandate funding from a foreign source to only those recipients who have FCRA registration.

A bank account of the firm located in Mumbai, has been frozen at the instruction of the Home Ministry. Gujarat government had asked the Home Ministry to take action against Ford Foundation, alleging that the US-based organisation was interfering in internal affairs of the country and also abetting communal disharmony through an NGO run by Setalvad.

The fund transfer from Ford Foundation has, at present, to be cleared by a nodal official in the Home Ministry. In April, the government had ordered that funds from Ford Foundation should not be released by any bank to any Indian NGO without mandatory permission from the Home Ministry.