Mumbai school trust transferred Rs 24 cr to pvt entity in 3 yrs; audit recommend

The American Education Trustmdashwhich runs Swami Vivekanand International School and Junior College a prominent Kandivalibased schoolmdashis under the scanner of the charity commissionerrsquos office for transferring Rs 2435 crore to Spring Bird Education Private Limited from 2019 to 2021The officer investigating the schoolrsquos accounts has proposed a special audit of the books as the trust transferred massive funds to different entities without taking mandatory approvals from the commissionerrsquos office However the school management has denied any wrongdoing and stated that it would contest the allegations before the charity commissionerrsquos officeIn July midday reported about the Swami Vivekanand International School and Junior College allegedly transferring R295 crore to S Mahendrakumar Devichand a Mumbaibased bullion company at a time when teachers and school staff were asked to take pay cuts during COVID19Complainantrsquos questionsIn his complaint to the Economic Offence Wing EOW of the Mumbai Police on September 15 2022 Darshan Soni president of the Citizen Right Protection Committee CRPC had alleged the trust indulged in money laundering and demanded a thorough probe into the entire caseSoni told midday ldquoFunds from American Education Trust have been transferred to Spring Bird Education Private Limited where Sandeep Goenka managing trustee of American Education Trust is one of the directors The trust has even transferred funds to a Mumbaibased bullion company and given donations to another trust Why would the school give funds to a jewellery firm or other trust The entire transaction sounds fishy and needs thorough investigation to find whether there was money launderingrdquoThe EOW accordingly shared the information with the charity commissioners office which in turn on December 12 2022 appointed one of its officers to inspect the ledger and other accounts of the trust midday is in possession of the report prepared by the charity commissionerrsquos officerReportrsquos findingsldquoPrima facie there seems to be merit in allegations made by the complainant Several crore funds have been transferred without following due procedure and hence special audit of the trust accounts is needed During the scrutiny of accounts it has been observed that the trust transferred Rs 243053295 to Spring Bird Education Private Limited from 2019 to 2021 The trust has even failed to maintain proper records receiptsvouchers for the same and transfer of funds was done without obtaining necessary and mandatory approvals from the charity commissioners officerdquo the report readsThe report also states that the educational trust transferred funds to several other entities including R295 crore to a Mumbaibased bullion company and Rs 1 crore as a donation to another trust ldquoThe validity of Income Tax 80G certificate of the trust that received Rs 1 crore as donation was till March 31 2011rdquo the report read Following the submission of the inspection report the assistant charity commissioner has ordered the matter under section 41BOther sideGoenka has denied all the charges against the trust He told midday that the organisation was aware of its responsibilities and the rules ldquoThe alleged report prepared by the charity commissionerrsquos inspector is being challenged as it was prepared without considering vital documents and facts which are already on record However the matter is sub judice before the authority concerned where we are representing all the documents and facts There was no misappropriation of funds as allegedrdquo he saidGoenka further stated that out of a desire for vengeance and frustration a former trust member Yogesh Patel had been making baseless allegations against the institute ldquobut so far he has not been able to prove any of the allegationsrdquoldquoA police case was also registered by him at Borivli police station However after a thorough investigation into the matter the police did not find any substance to the allegations Hence they filed a Bsummary report closed the case Similarly Patel has filed another complaint against the trust at Kandivli police station but after investigating the complaint the police similarly filed a closure report We have faith in the system and are confident that justice will prevailrdquo the trustee addedPast caseEarlier the founder and managing trustee of the school Patel had raised a red flag about the fund transfer because it had happened without a board resolution and the permission from charity commissionerrsquos office Since the American Education Trust is registered as a charitable trust Patel complained to the charity commissioner about the matter Patel had started the Swami Vivekanand School in 1998 In 201213 Goenka was inducted as a trustee In 2020 the trustees started having disputes and Patel approached the charity commissioner a year later In 2022 he even filed a police case against Goenka However since the police have closed the case Patel has challenged the closure report before the court