On September 19, officers of the Jaipur Zonal Office of the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) carried out searches at two sites in Jaisalmer district, Rajasthan, probing the alleged receipt of roughly Rs 5.10 crore in foreign contributions from a Belgium‑based entity without the required FCRA clearance.
The operation invoked provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 after intelligence inputs indicated that a local resident, identified as Deu Ram, was channeling money from Belgian organisations into activities presented as educational and social welfare programmes targeting vulnerable groups.
ED investigators traced the flow of funds to Deu Ram and his associate Gyan Chand, who together received the full amount through foreign remittances. The money was largely recorded as payments for educational services, cultural and recreational activities, and family maintenance or savings of non‑resident Indians.
Most of the foreign inflow originated from Amar ASBL, a non‑profit registered in Brussels in 2011 and managed by Belgian nationals Jose Goffinet and his son Salian Goffinet. Despite operating exclusively in Jaisalmer for the past 14‑15 years, Amar ASBL never set up a trust or NGO in India, instead relying on Deu Ram and Gyan Chand to execute its projects.
During the raids, agents seized several documents and digital files that suggested the contributions were accepted without the mandatory FCRA permission and were misdeclared. Approximately Rs 2.60 crore was withdrawn in cash from bank accounts linked to the two recipients, while no proper books of accounts or financial statements were found to track receipt or utilisation of the funds.
Investigators also noted that Jose and Salian Goffinet visited Jaisalmer annually, meeting families of beneficiary children and organising religious gatherings. The foreign money was routed using multiple purpose codes – family maintenance, educational services, cultural and recreational services, commission agent services and employee compensation – none of which corresponded to actual services rendered to the Belgian organisation. After banks halted foreign remittances to the accounts of Deu Ram and Gyan Chand, attempts were made to divert the money through personal accounts of other local associates.
Image for illustration purposes only
📰 Source: Daijiworld