The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered a case against Oxfam India and its dignitaries for reportedly violating India’s foreign funding rules and carried out an investigation at the offices of the non-governmental agency on Wednesday in Delhi.
Oxfam India is a part of the global confederation of Oxfam, which works on issues like poverty, gender discrimination, climate change, and inequality. This NGO is not government-owned and has also denied any wrongdoing of which it is accused. Instead, they said that they were just cooperating with the authorities.
Complaint by the Home Ministry
According to the complaint filed by the Home Ministry, Oxfam India was credited with Rs. 1.5 crore directly in its foreign contribution account instead of the given bank account between 2013 and 2016. The complaint also mentioned that Oxfam India remitted Rs. 12.71 lakhs to the Centre for Policy Research (CPR) in FY 2019-20 in violation of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) 2010 rules.
The CBI said that it acted upon the case after receiving a complaint from the Home Ministry, which had rejected Oxfam India’s FCRA licence in January last year. The FIR came days after the Union Home Ministry recommended a CBI intervention in the case of the global NGO Oxfam for alleged violations of the FCRA.
Accusations against Oxfam India
During an income tax survey by the CBDT, several emails were found that show that the NGO has been planning to pressurise the Indian government and foreign institutions. CBI stated that they have the reach and influence to request external organisations to intervene on its behalf with the government of India.
Moreover, the complaint mentioned that the charitable organisation was planning to bypass the FCRA by shifting funds to other associations or firms. The Indian branch had distributed funds from its foreign branches, such as Oxfam Australia and Oxfam Great Britain, to certain NGOs and carried out its control over the project.
The firm has been in cooperation with all government owned agencies ever since its FCRA registration was not renewed in December 2021. They themselves even registered a petition in the Delhi High Court against the decision that their FCRA registration would not be renewed. Now the Union government will be responsible for responding to charity organisation’s plea.
Oxfam on this
The NGO said that it is fully compliant with Indian laws and has filed all its statutory compliances, including FCRA returns, in a timely manner ever since its foundation. They added that they were in full cooperation with the government and its agencies since its FCRA registration had not been renewed.
They mentioned that in these cruel times, where inequality is growing a lot and there is a greater need for action on poverty eradication, Oxfam always has and will continue to work in the public and national interest as they believe it is their constitutional duty, irrespective of obstacles and hurdles in the path.
CBI files a legal case against Oxfam
The charitable organisation has clearly broken the law and violated section 7 of the FCRA 2010, which states that an organisation with FCRA registration is not permitted to transfer or sub-grant any of the FC to the other organisation, whether registered or not.
The CBI case against Oxfam India comes at a time when many civil society organisations have faced inspection and exploitation from the government. The complaint exposed them as a probable instrument of the foreign policy of foreign organisations or entities that have funded it liberally over the years. They circumvented the laws by taking other routes to channel funds, because their FCRA registration was cancelled.
