CBI books Lawyers Collective, Grover for FCRA violations

New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation has filed an FIR against Mumbai-based NGO, Lawyers Collective (LC) and its President noted lawyer Anand Grover for violating multiple sections of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, including using foreign donations to fund advocacy with Members of Parliament and organise dharnas.

The CBI has booked Grover, husband of senior lawyer Indira Jaising, on the basis of a complaint from the Ministry of Home Affairs, which refers to a 2016 report alleging that the NGO had used foreign funding to finance activities not outlined as objectives of the association, including funding travel expenses for both Grover and Jaising.

In a joint press statement issued on Tuesday evening, trustees of LC, along with Grover and Jaising expressed "shock and outrage" over this action from the CBI, in registering a case against them.

"LC has reason to believe that its office bearers are being personally targeted for speaking up in defence of human rights, secularism, and independence of the judiciary in all fora, particularly in their capacity as Senior Lawyers in Court," it said.

In the recent past, Jaising has been publicly vocal about what she claimed was a lack of due process in the way sexual harassment allegations against the Cheif Justice of India was handled. Moreover, office bearers of LC have also represented former Kolkata to-cop Rajeev Kumar in the Saradha case, where the CBI has raised concerns of evidence tampering by the SIT headed by Kumar.

In its complaint, the government has accused LC of using foreign funds to the tune of at least Rs 13 lakh for media advocacy with MPs in 2010. Further, allegations of misusing foreign contributions to the tune of over Rs 12 crore have also been levelled against the NGO.

The CBI FIR goes on to accuse the NGO of using these foreign funds to finance foreign trips for Grover in addition to transferring the funds to accounts in Hungary and Malaysia. The FIR alleges that LC transferred Rs 19.01 lakh to Hungary in October 2010 and Rs 12.83 lakh to Malaysia.

The probe agency has also accused LC of paying Rs 96.60 lakh to Jaising with their foreign funds while she was the Additional Solicitor General. The FIR alleges that Jaising did not seek appropriate clearances from the government in this regard. However, LC in its statement said that it was paying remuneration to Jaising even before she became ASG. In addition, the statement said that appropriate permission was in fact, granted by the Ministry of Law and Justice and duly cleared by the Law Minister.

The MHA complaint, based on which the probe agency has registered this case, comes from proceedings under the FCRA which were conducted in 2016, after which LC's registration for receiving foreign funds was suspended and cancelled. Grover's NGO had then appealed against these orders to the Bombay High Court, where the matter is pending.

In fact, another NGO, Lawyers' Voice had earlier this year, filed a plea in the Supreme Court alleging FCRA violations in the manner LC was receiving and utilising foreign funds. But LC has claimed that Lawyers' Voice is headed by advocates close to the ruling party in Delhi, thus has a vendetta against them.

In LC's statement, it said, "the FIR has no basis in fact and in law. It has been filed to target the organisation and its office bearers and to silence them for the causes and issues that they have taken up in the past and continues to take up since 2016. LC is seeking competent advise and will defend themselves in accordance with law in every forum".