I-T Dept probes Tibetan charitable trusts

Following the recovery of unaccounted money, including foreign currency totaling to Rs 9 crore, from the monastery of the Tibetan spiritual leader, the 17th Karmapa Ogyene Trinley Dorje, in Dharamsala, the Income Tax (I-T) department is looking at accounts of at least a dozen charitable trusts run by Tibetan refugees in Himachal Pradesh, officials said.

The trusts, currently under I-T scanner, are located in Dharamsala and the nearby resort towns of Palampur, Bir and Baijnath in the Kangra valley. “The I-T department could soon reopen cases of charitable trusts, which have availed exemption from the Income Tax under Section 12 of the Income Tax Act, 1961,” said an official.

During ongoing investigations the Himachal Pradesh police have found crores in several bank accounts of the Tibetan trusts, but these were not disclosed in the statements before the IT officials.

It has been alleged that these trusts accepted foreign exchange but did not inform the Home Ministry or the IT department. The Tibetan trusts have denied these allegation.

Of the 130,000 or so Tibetan refugees living in India, approximately 30,000 live in Himachal Pradesh.

The Tibetan government in exile is not recognised so far by any government and is based at Dharamsala since 1959.