Karmapa not a Chinese agent: Tibetan Government-in-Exile

Dharamsala, Mar 11: Rejecting allegations that he is a "Chinese agent", the Tibetan Government-in-Exile today strongly backed the Karmapa, from whose monastery there was huge foreign currency haul recently, saying he has the 100 per cent faith of spiritual leader Dalai Lama.

Prime Minister of Tibetan Government-in-Exile Samdhong Rinpoche said from the beginning the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan community knew that he was not a "Chinese agent" and termed the entire controversy as a "media judgement without any trial."

"His Holiness the Dalai Lama has 100 per cent faith in the Karmapa. He is not a Chinese agent. We know from the beginning. He has been allowed by the Indian Government to move freely across India except to two monasteries due to some problems," he told a select group of Indian journalists here.

Rinpoche said the Karmapa Ugyen Trinely Dorji is a "free individual" and he had nothing to do with the financial irregularities that were the reason for the whole controversy.

"Karmapa is one individual and he is not involved in financial transactions of his monastery... it seems that the arrested people who were his staff were involved... only to some extent we can tolerate. This is a case of media judgement without any trial," he said. He said the law of the land will take its course against the persons involved.

The 17th Karmapa was recently in the news after the Himachal Pradesh police questioned him and his secretary Gompu Tshering and recovered foreign currency worth Rs 4 lakh.

The arrested include Karmapa's accountant Shakti Lama, Dharmshala businessman KP Bhardwaj and Corporation bank manager DK Dhar.

The police believe the huge cache of currency found at the Karmapa's transit home was meant for a land deal and Bhardwaj and Dhar were facilitating that deal.

Some reports said intelligence agencies suspected that he was a Chinese agent as millions of Yuan currency was allegedly recovered from his monastery.

The Dalai Lama had also in February defended the Karmapa after the controversy erupted.

Rinpoche said the Tibetan Government-in-Exile has been asking the monasteries and other individuals to keep their accounts clear and pay income tax properly every year.

"Every land deal needs permission of the FRCA. These instructions have been given to everyone asking them to maintain proper accounts," he said.

To a question on who would be the Dalai Lama's successor, he said, "After the demise of the current Dalai Lama, the next Dalai Lama will be born in a free country. He should incarnate in any free country. He has the freedom to choose where he should incarnate."

PTI