By IANS,
Mumbai : The Tata Social Welfare Trust (TSWT) Monday said it did not donate any money to anti-corruption activist Arvind Kejriwal’s Public Cause Research Foundation (PCRF).
“The TSWT clarifies that it did not donate any money to the Public Cause Research Foundation, Ghaziabad, of Arvind Kejriwal for any political activities, contrary to reports in a section of the media,” an official statement of the trust said.
A section of the media Sunday reported that Kejriwal’s anti-corruption movement got sustenance from a combination of businessmen and bankers. It was reported that the balance sheet of PCRF showed that Kejriwal and his aides got Rs.96.5 lakh from some eminent businessmen.
Reports also said that Infosys founder N.R. Narayana Murthy made a personal contribution of Rs.12 lakh in 2010-11, while the TSWT handed over a cheque of Rs.25 lakh to PCRF.
The statement, however, said that Narayana Murthy in October 2008 had recommended to TSWT to assist Kejriwal in raising awareness about the Right to Information Act (RTI).
“Subsequently, in December 2008, the PCRF requested TSWT for a grant of Rs.1.25 crore, for a five-year period to institute National RTI Awards by recognising roles played by public information officers, information commissioners and citizens,” the statement said.
“TSWT approved the request, and agreed to release Rs.25 lakh per year from 2009, for a period of five years, to help the Foundation institute the Awards. Rs.25 lakh each was released to the Foundation in 2009 and 2010,” the statement added.
TSWT also released Rs.25 lakh in 2011. After receiving the grant for 2011, PCRF wrote to TSWT that it would not be able to present RTI Awards for 2011, and asked whether the grant instead could be used for the movement on the Jan Lokpal bill.
The statement added the TSWT informed PCRF that since the grant was meant for RTI Awards, it could not be used for any other purpose and that the latter, accordingly, returned the grant of Rs.25 lakh for the year 2011 to TSWT.
“There have been no further grants from TSWT to the foundation,” it said.