Charity Group That "Diverted" Funds Of Poor Students Raided By Probe Agency

Searches against a Telangana-based charity group have found that about Rs 300 crore worth of foreign funds raised partly from domestic donations in the name of providing free education and meals to downtrodden children were diverted for "unauthorized" purposes, the Enforcement Directorate said on Tuesday.

The raids were undertaken at 11 locations of the Operation Mobilisation (OM) group of charities and its key office-bearers in and around Hyderabad on June 21-22, the federal agency said in a statement.

The money laundering case stems from a state police CID FIR that alleged that the charity group and others raised "substantial" funds of around Rs 300 crore from foreign donors based in the USA, Canada, UK, Australia, Argentina, Denmark, Germany, Finland, Ireland, Malaysia, Norway, Brazil, Czech Republic Republic, France, Romania, Singapore, Sweden and Switzerland in the name of providing free education and meals to Dalit and downtrodden children.

These children, according to the CID FIR, were studying in more than 100 Good Shepherd schools run by the group that is alleged to have "diverted" the said funds for asset creation and other "unauthorised" purposes.

"CID investigation found that suppressing the fact of sponsorship of students, tuition and other fees ranging from Rs 1,000-Rs 1,500 per month were collected from the students and substantial funds were put into fixed deposits and/or diverted to other related entities of the OM group.

"Funds were also received from the government under the Right to Education Act but the same were not recorded properly and other incomes were grossly under-reported in the books of accounts," the ED alleged.

It said a probe found that several suspicious transactions indicated "diversion" of the funds of the OM group of charities and multiple immovable properties of the key office-bearers of the group that are spread across Telangana, Goa, Kerala, Karnataka and Maharashtra.

"FCRA registrations for most of the group entities were not renewed and to bypass the same, foreign funds received in FCRA registered 'OM Books Foundation' were diverted to other group entities as loans which are yet to be repaid," it claimed.

The office-bearers of the group were employed as consultants with shell entities incorporated in Goa and were receiving salaries, the ED said.

The searches led to the seizure of "incriminating" documents, digital devices, records of "clandestine" transactions, properties and benami companies, the agency said.

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