| CBI raids home, offices of lawyers Indira Jaising, Anand Grover in foreign funding case | | | New Delhi ,
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday carried out searches at homes and offices of Supreme Court lawyer Indira Jaising and her husband Anand Grover in connection with an alleged violation of foreign funding rules for their NGO Lawyers Collective.
The searches are taking place at the Delhi and Mumbai offices of the NGO, officials said on Thursday. Officials did not give any details of locations where searches are going on, they said.
Anand Grover, husband of former Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Indira Jaising was booked by the CBI for alleged Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act violations in receiving foreign aid. When contacted, Anand Grover asked not to be disturbed as he was in the "midst" of it (searches), reported news agency PTI.
In May, the Supreme Court issued notices to Indira Jaising, her husband Anand Grover and their NGO Lawyers Collective, while hearing a petition filed by petitioner Lawyer's Voice seeking the status of investigations into an alleged case of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA)violation by the NGO.
The CBI had booked lawyer Anand Grover and his Mumbai-based voluntary organisation, Lawyers Collective, for alleged violation of rules in receiving foreign aid. The agency filed an FIR on the basis of a complaint from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), which alleged several discrepancies in the utilisation of foreign aid received by the NGO.
The CBI booked Grover, the president of Lawyers Collective, and unidentified office-bearers of the organisation, besides unidentified officials. The allegation was strongly disputed by Lawyers Collective in a statement issued in May.
Although the CBI had not named Grover's wife and former additional solicitor general (ASG) Indira Jaising as an accused in the FIR, the complaint filed by the ministry, which is now part of the FIR, had mentioned allegations against her.
The ministry alleged that Jaising, as the additional solicitor general (ASG) from 2009 to 2014, had received remunerations worth Rs 96.60 lakh from the foreign contributions received by Lawyers Collective. It also stated that her foreign travels as ASG were funded by Lawyers Collective, using such contributions, without prior approval of the ministry.
The ministry said the ASG is paid by the government from the Consolidated Fund of India and carries out very sensitive and high-level work, including, inter-alia, giving advice to the government in legal matters, appearing in the Supreme Court and high courts on its behalf and representing it in any reference made by the president to the apex court.
It alleged that Jaising violated the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) by "not seeking clearances from the government for receiving foreign contributions in the form of remuneration from the organisation and accepting foreign hospitality while visiting a foreign country".
According to the ministry's complaint, Lawyers Collective had allegedly received foreign aid worth over Rs 32.39 crore between 2006-07 and 2014-15, wherein irregularities were committed that amounted to violation of the FCRA, 2010.
|
|
