National Herald case: Delhi court to resume hearing on July 12
New Delhi: After partly hearing the rejoinder arguments of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the Rouse Avenue Court on Tuesday listed the National Herald money laundering case for further hearing on July 12.
The high-profile cases array Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Congress Overseas Chief Sam Pitroda, and Suman Dubey as parties to the prosecution complaint filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
In his rejoinder arguments, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) S.V. Raju, representing the ED, refuted the submissions made on the Gandhis’ behalf that they had no control over the assets of Associated Journals Limited (AJL), the original publisher of the National Herald.
During the previous hearing, Rahul Gandhi claimed that the All India Congress Committee’s attempts to revive the pre-Independence era newspaper were misconstrued as a bid to sell its assets. Highlighting the non-profit objectives of the company, senior advocate RS Cheema, representing Rahul Gandhi, said that the National Herald was never a commercial institution and the AICC just wanted to bring the newspaper back on the rails.
Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing Sonia Gandhi, had described the money laundering allegations as “really strange” and “unprecedented,” claiming that no tangible assets were involved.
Special Judge (PC Act) Vishal Gogne of the Rouse Avenue Courts is hearing the arguments of the Central agency as well as the proposed accused, including the Gandhis, on the question of taking cognisance on the ED’s prosecution complaint, on a day-to-day basis from July 2.
In the previous hearings, the ED had claimed that Young Indian Ltd — in which Sonia and Rahul Gandhi are majority stakeholders – was used for usurping around Rs 2,000 crore assets of the National Herald by paying a nominal price of Rs 50 lakh. ASG Raju said that Young Indian exists just in name, and all the other accused are puppets of the Gandhi family.
As per the ED, a conspiracy was hatched to form Young Indian to acquire control over the vast assets of the now-defunct newspaper, aimed at benefiting the top Congress leadership personally. The probe agency said that several senior Congress leaders were involved in “fake transactions” made to AJL. ASG Raju told the court that individuals were making fraudulent advance rent payments over several years at the direction of senior Congress functionaries with fabricated rent receipts.
The ED’s prosecution complaint claimed that by way of a malicious takeover, the Congress leadership had misappropriated property belonging to the AJL and converted public trusts into personal assets.
The controversy over the National Herald’s assets came into focus in 2012 when BJP leader Subramanian Swamy filed a complaint in a trial court, alleging that Congress leaders had engaged in cheating and breach of trust in the process of acquiring AJL.