The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday carried out searches at eight premises in Bengaluru to probe Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) violations by controversial US billionaire George Soros’s funding agency Open Source Foundation (OSF) and its investment arm Soros EDF.
The agency, in its preliminary investigation, found out that the OSF was put under the ‘Prior Reference Category’ by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in 2016. This restricted the OSF from offering unregulated donations to NGOs in India.
To bypass government rules, the OSF opened subsidiaries in India and brought in funds through Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and consultancy fees, and these funds were used to fund activities of the NGOs which is a FEMA contravention, charged ED sources.
One of the world’s largest private funders of groups supporting human rights, justice, and accountable government, the OSF had an annual budget in 2020 of over $1 billion, said its website.
The Open Society began working in India in 1999, initially offering scholarships and fellowships for students to pursue studies and research at Indian institutions, it said.
In 2014, we launched an India-specific grant-making program, supporting local organisations that work in three areas: extending access to medicine; promoting justice system reforms; and strengthening and establishing rights, public services, and community living for people with psychosocial disabilities.
Since 2008, Open Society said it has invested over $90 million in start-up and early funding projects managed by Bangalore-based Aspada Investments.
The Open Society stated on its website that from mid-2016, its grant making in India was constrained due to government restrictions on funding for local NGOs.
The BJP has been attacking Soros, a Hungarian-American political activist cum philanthropist, for allegedly funding the Opposition parties and others for targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi to destablise India.
The ruling party also accused former Biden administration of colluding with Soros to undermine Modi.
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