ASAR management has not been able to explain the nature of services provided to CEEW and its relation with USAID. ASAR and CEEW have not come out with a statement on the ED probe.
New Delhi: US Agency for International Development (USAID), facing heat from the Trump administration for promoting a “left, liberal and woke” agenda abroad, allegedly funded three Bengaluru-based companies with links to hedge fund operator George Soros. The development came during a probe by the Enforcement Directorate on three Bengaluru-based companies for alleged breach of Foreign Exchange Management Act. These companies reportedly received Rs 25 crore from Soros Economic Development Fund, which is the impact investment arm of Open Society Foundations, one of the several entities founded by Soros.
During the probe, ED officials found that one of the companies – ASAR Social Impact Advisor – also received Rs 8 crore from USAID as foreign inward remittance in 2022-23, according to Times of India report.
ASAR management has reportedly told ED that the USAID funding was reimbursement for the services it provided to a Delhi-based public policy think tank, Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), which, according to its website, is focused on “understanding global challenges and implications for India’s development”.
CEEW has former deputy chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Suresh Prabhu, who served as a minister in the first Modi govt, as its trustees.
ASAR, however, was unable to explain the nature of services provided to CEEW and its relation with USAID. ASAR and CEEW have not come out with a statement on the ED probe, the TOI report said.
Besides ASAR, Rootbridge Services Pvt Ltd and Rootbridge Academy Ltd are the other two Bengaluru-based companies that had received funding from SEDF. All the three companies received the funding between 2021 and 2024.