New Delhi (19.03.2025): The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday conducted searches at eight locations in Bengaluru linked to the Open Society Foundations (OSF) in alleged foreign exchange violations. OSF is founded by George Soros and its investment arm Soros Economic Development Fund (SEDF).
The premises of some of the beneficiaries of OSF and SEDF, including those linked to some international human rights bodies, and a company named Aspada Investments Pvt Ltd were searched under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).
Aspada Investments is the investment advisor or fund manager of SEDF in India which was set up by the OSF in Mauritius to channelise funding in India. A preliminary investigation showed that OSF was placed under ‘Prior Reference Category’ (PRC) by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on May 30, 2016.
In order to bypass such restrictions, the OSF had subsidiaries in India and brought in funds in the form of FDI and consultancy fees, and these funds have been used to fund activities of the NGOs, which is a FEMA contravention. The ED is probing the end use of the FDI funds.
According to the OSF, it is one of the world’s largest private funding agencies of groups supporting human rights, justice and accountable government, with an annual budget of over $1 billion in 2020.
