Indian ministry issues notice to Zakir Naik’s foundation

Indian home ministry yesterday issued an inspection notice to Islamic preacher Zakir Naik's Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) for alleged Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) violations, The Hindu reports quoting a senior official of the ministry.

The notice is the first step towards suspending or revoking the FCRA registration of any NGO or organisation.

This is one of the first legal actions initiated by the government against Naik, after he came under the scanner following the attack on Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka on July 1 as one of the attackers was said to have preached his quotation, the reports said.

The restaurant had come under the attack from armed terrorists on July 1 where 22 people, mostly foreigners were killed.

Mumbai-based educational organisations, Islamic Research Foundation and IRF Educational Trust, are registered under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), The Hindu said.

As reported by The Hindu earlier, the two NGOs have received foreign funds to the tune of Rs 10 crore in the past decade. The funds came mostly from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

"We have issued an inspection notice to IRF. We will inspect their book of accounts to see whether the provisions of the FCRA were violated or not. If we find discrepancies, the next step is to put it under temporary suspension and all the foreign donations will then have to be routed through MHA. We will give them time to respond and if we are not satisfied with the reply, the NGO's registration can be cancelled," the daily reports quoting the official.

Donations were also made by individual donors from countries like Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Indonesia, the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, Switzerland, New Zealand, Singapore, Mauritius, Kenya and Nigeria.

A Hong Kong-based religious NGO also funded the foundation, which had received Rs 93 lakh from just one individual from the United Arab Emirates in 2007-08, according to The Hindu report.

Source: The Hindu