AAP's Manish Sisodia under cloud for 'misuse' of NGO's foreign funds

NEW DELHI: Close on the heels of reports about law minister Somnath Bharti's alleged spamming days comes another embarrassment for the Aam Aadmi Party government that only a month ago was riding high on the promise of corruption-free governance.

This time, the party's second-in-command and chief minister Arvind Kejriwal's close aide, Manish Sisodia, is alleged to have diverted foreign funds meant for his NGO, Kabir, for personal use. Kejriwal is a governing body member of this NGO that works in the right to information (RTI) sphere.

The case is old and an inspection by the home ministry's controller of accounts in 2012 concluded: "In several cases, payments are not supported with relevant documents and are routed through Manish Sisodia in cash". The alleged irregularities include payment of rent to Sisodia's wife without receipts, unexplained travel expenses and even a "reimbursement" to Sisodia for servicing his car.

Kabir paid Rs 17.7 lakh to RTI activists throughout the country from 2008 to 2011-2012 but their agreements with it were not shown to the team. It also could not provide the inspection party any documentary evidence for salary and allowances paid to employees.The NGO had received more than Rs 2 crore in foreign contributions between 2005-06 and 2010-11 and the inspection was done in accordance with the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, covering the period from 2005-06 to 2011-12. Sisodia, talking to TOI, said they have been cleared by the court in this matter and it has been raked up to politically target him.Sisodia, the inspection report states, ran the NGO from his residence in Pandav Nagar and his wife Seema was paid Rs 12,000 per month as rent for it but no rent receipt was made available. Kabir's rent agreement with her was not shown to the team. The NGO's cash books from 2006 to 2008 were missing and Sisodia told the team they had been lost while relocating the office.

The report states Sisodia was paid Rs 17,900 on July 11, 2008 for a trip to Dehradun but the bill shows vehicles were hired for a six-day Delhi-Bahraich-Delhi tour. Also, the purpose of the tour, number of travellers and the list of toll paid are not mentioned. "Prima facie, it seems an example of embezzlement," says the report.

Sisodia was paid Rs 6,656 on November 23, 2008 for a Delhi-Lucknow-Delhi tour but his co-travellers, Divya Jyoti and Bibhav Kumar, are not on Kabir's board. He was paid Rs 2,496 on April 23, 2008 for a visit to Chitrakoot but it is not clear whether the tour was official.

Sisodia "reimbursed" Rs 3,900 on August 11, 2008 for servicing his Alto car. "This again is an evidence of embezzlement of foreign grants for personal use," the report says.

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