WASHINGTON: In a strong association with India, the Clinton Foundation has worked with generic drug manufacturers to access low cost medicine for the poor across the world, with de-stigmatizing Aids, with helping cashew growers and other small farmers access global markets, and introducing fortified rice in schools, among other projects. But caught in the whirl of partisan politics in the middle of the presidential campaign, the Foundation is on the defensive in America, with possible fall-out on its operations across the world, including in India.

Amid relentless scrutiny of the Clintons, including charges that there were quid pro quo arrangements involving then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with donors, the foundation announced a virtual winding up of their involvement in the enterprise – if Hillary Clinton becomes President.

Foundation employees have been informed that the former President will step down from the board, and the Foundation would stop accepting money from foreign and corporate sources. What’s not clear is the role Chelsea Clinton, who has taken a larger profile in the organization in recent months, will play.

Established in 1997 when Clinton was still president, and ramped up after he left office, the foundation has been involved in charitable work by the Clinton family across the world, drawing influential global donors adding to the Clintons’ own charitable giving. The Clinton' most recent tax returns showed the couple donating $1 million to the foundation in 2015.

But many international donors, including some people of Indian origin, have given much more, drawing scrutiny to their motive, and allegations that they got high-level government access when Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State. Emails indicating connections between donors or associates of the foundation and State Department personnel and Hillary Clinton aides have surfaced in recent weeks, drawing withering scrutiny and criticism from the media that has been panned for bearing down on the Republican Donald Trump while giving the Clintons a free pass.

In one email, Cheryl Mills, Hillary Clinton’s chief of staff when she was Secretary of State asks the Foundation’s director of foreign policy Amitabh Desai to provide a list of donors ''so she can reference more than just those around her speech.''

While the Foundation maintains that 90 per cent of the donations are of less than $ 100 coming from some 300,000 contributors, scrutiny has centered on large contributions from the government, rulers, and foundations in countries such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Contributions from India and Indian-American too have attracted some attention.

A donors list disclosed by the Foundation some months back following public pressure reveals at least three PIOs who contributed more than a $ 1 million to the foundation, including Mala Gaonkar Haarman, a Boston-based co-portfolio manager at investment firm Lone Pine Capital who is also a trustee of the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI); Dave Katragadda, a petroleum engineer from California who is founder of the Smart Software and serves as the Chairman of US-Asia Business Forum ( USABF ); and the steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal.

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is also listed as having contributed between $ 500,000 to $ 1 million. Going further back, the Indian politician was reported to have contributed more than $ 5 million, allegedly to smoothen the passage of the U.S-India nuclear clear, a charge that Clinton aides say ''does not even come close to passing the smell test.''

Separately, the former President is reported to have received more than $ 5 million in consulting fees between 2010 and 2014 from the Dubai-based GEMS Education run by the Kerala-born Sunny Varkey.

The rash of charges finally has had the effect of the Clintons virtually announcing their disassociation with the Foundation if Hillary wins the White House, although critics remain unimpressed.

''If it’s not appropriate for you to do while you’re president why was it appropriate to do while she was secretary of state?'' asked Peter Schweizer, author of the book Clinton Cash, who first alleged the quid pro quo between the Indian contribution and the nuclear deal.

Schweizer believes that even with the new commitment, the Clintons have structured the Foundation in such a way that their affiliates in India, in Singapore, in Sweden, could accept the donations to circumvent the American roadblock.

