7 months ago
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The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached 12 immovable properties valued astatine ₹3.58 crore arsenic portion of its money-laundering probe into large-scale diversion and misappropriation of funds by Operation Mobilisation (OM India) Group of Charities that tally Good Shepherd Schools crossed the country. The contiguous marketplace worth of the attached assets is estimated astatine astir ₹15 crore.
The enactment follows findings that tuition fees, ancillary charges, government-funded RTE reimbursements and overseas donations meant for Dalit and marginalised children were systematically siphoned off.
The probe stems from an FIR filed by the Economic Offences Wing of the Telangana CID, which uncovered a wide organised fraud wrong the OM India Foundation (OMIF) and its affiliated organisations. As per the CID chargesheet, Joseph D’Souza, his lad Josh Lawrence D’Souza and different bureau bearers diverted astir ₹296.6 crore successful overseas and home donations received from large planetary Christian charities, including the Dalit Freedom Network successful the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.
According to the ED, OMIF received important overseas sponsorship funds intended specifically for the acquisition of Dalit and different marginalised children, arsenic good arsenic for operation and operational costs of the schools. Searches astatine OM India offices and the residences of its elder functionaries led to the seizure of spot documents, fiscal records and physics devices. Examination of these materials revealed systemic manipulation of pupil sponsorship records to warrant higher overseas inflows.
The ED’s probe has recovered that Good Shepherd Schools collected regular fees, publication charges, azygous costs and transport fees from each students, including those advertised to donors arsenic afloat sponsored. The schools besides received important authorities assistance nether RTE and assistance schemes, yet students continued to beryllium charged afloat fees, portion authorities reimbursements were diverted to OMIF caput bureau accounts alternatively than being passed connected to beneficiaries.
Investigators besides recovered that betwixt 2014–15 and 2016–17, expenses recorded for books, uniforms, ties, belts and transport were diverted to the Good Shepherd Community Society (GSCS), which undertakes spiritual activities.
A peculiarly disturbing revelation successful the probe is the alleged misrepresentation of mean Good Shepherd School students arsenic ‘joginis’, temple attendants subjected to intersexual exploitation, successful bid to get higher sponsorship amounts from overseas donors.
Following tract verification, the Ministry of Home Affairs’ Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) part ordered the non-renewal of FCRA licences for respective OM India entities and froze their accounts implicit violations of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, 2010. Despite this, the enactment allegedly continued to transmission overseas funds via the OM Books Foundation done commercialized invoices related to printing, thereby bypassing FCRA restrictions.
The ED said that further investigation, including the recognition of further proceeds of transgression and the roles of different individuals progressive successful laundering the funds, is nether way.
