NEW DELHI: Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday launched extensive raids in Bengaluru at premises of the beneficiaries of controversial multi-billionaire George Soros and his trust Open Society Foundations (OSF).
The raids by ED are being are conducted on beneficiaries of Soros’ largesse across Bengaluru along side several parts of Karnataka in connection with the alleged violations of Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).
Sources in ED said that more than six employees of Amnesty International, Green Peace and Human Rights Watch — two key beneficiaries of OSF — were being among those questioned in connection with a tranche of funds funnelled into their accounts.
Sources said at least four employees including one Rajesh Bhattacharya and Divya Raghunathan were being questioned by ED officials during the raids on Soros-backedo OSF in India.
OSF has made generous donations in India and abroad to both Amnesty and HRW to the tune of more than $200 million (Rs 1,500 crore) over the past five years alone in India.
Some officials estimate Soros’ overall donations in India for the decade including, a cohort of watchdogs, news portals, research projects, seminars, conferences think tanks and even progenies of retired and present civil servants, amid a heavily veiled-system of funding to be in the tune of $18 billion.
“Between 2016 and 2023, ED has attached several accounts of Amnesty International. These raids are fresh to ascertain more funding patterns of OSF that were being used to unlawfully engineer protests or disturb peaceful works in India,” said an official in Bengaluru.
