‘Karmapa not a Chinese agent,has Dalai’s trust’

Rinpoche said the Karmapa Ugyen Trinley 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. Some reports said intelligence agencies suspected that he was a Chinese agent as millions in yuan currency was allegedly recovered from his monastery.

The Dalai Lama had also 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.