On Tuesday (18th March), the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided 8 locations in Bengaluru linked with beneficiary entities of the Open Society Foundation (OSF), owned by far-left billionaire George Soros. The raids were reportedly conducted as part of the ED investigations into the violations of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) regulations by three Bengaluru-based companies.
The entities whose premises were searched by the ED included some international human rights bodies and a company named Aspada Investments Pvt Ltd. Aspada Investments Pvt Ltd was reportedly set up by the OSF in Mauritius to channelise funds in India. It was set up in Bengaluru on February 4, 2013, to manage OSF’s investment in India.
OSF’s investment arm provided ₹300 crore to more than 12 Indian companies
As per reports, the Soros Economic Development Fund (SEDF), a social impact investment arm of the OSF, transferred around ₹25 core between 2020-21 and 2023-24 to three Indian companies in violation of the FEMA guidelines. The companies are named- Rootbridge Services Pvt Ltd (RSPL), Rootbridge Academy Pvt Ltd (RAPL) and ASAR Social Impact Advisors Pvt Ltd (ASAR). The SEDF reportedly provided funds to the tune of ₹300 crore to more than 12 companies in India.
The OSF was put under the Prior Reference Category (PRC) by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in 2016 which mandated the OSF to seek prior permission from the ministry before giving any donations to FCRA-registered entities in India. However, the OSF had been trying to bypass the regulations and restrictions by bringing in funds through FDI and consultancy fees and using the money to fund certain NGOs in India, in contravention of Indian laws.
SEDF transferred funds to Indian companies for ‘services’ that were never rendered
According to the Times of India, the SEDF transferred funds to the RSPL through compulsorily convertible preference shares. The RAPL set up in 2019, was given ₹2.7 crore by the SEDF as commission agent services. However, no services were provided by the company which suggested that the RAPL acted as an agent for the SEDF to bypass the FCRA regulations for funding NGOs in India. Similarly, the ASAR which was set up in 2016, received an amount of ₹2.9 crore from the SEDF in the name of ‘service fees’ which was suspected by the investigation agency to be a donation in disguise. The ED is examining the end use of other FDI funds brought in by Soros EDF and OSF.
Soros’ Open Society Foundation is accused of engineering regime change operations around the world though civil society groups and activists. The OSF describes itself as the world’s largest private funding agency of groups supporting human rights, justice and accountable government. In 2020, it had an annual budget of US$1 billion. The SEDF is an active social impact investor in India and its stated goals include ‘helping smallholder farmers and small businesses boost their incomes, making healthcare, schooling and financial services more available and affordable to a broader range of people’. The OSF has reportedly invested $90 million in start-up and early funding projects managed by Aspada Investments since 2008.
The ED raids on the OSF-funded entities in India come at a time when Soros’s foundation is facing the heat in the United States after the Trump government came to power. Soros had aligned with far-left liberals and had opposed Donald Trump ahead of the US Presidential election. He had also announced his dislike for the Modi government in India, and had stated that his organisation has set aside $1 billion to change ‘nationalist’ governments around the world.
