Delhi court reserves verdict in National Herald case

New Delhi, July 14 A court here on Monday reserved its verdict on the question of taking cognisance of the prosecution complaint filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the alleged National Herald money laundering case.

The high-profile case lists Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Congress Overseas Chief Sam Pitroda, Suman Dubey, and others as accused under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

After hearing the arguments of the Central agency as well as the proposed accused, including the Gandhis, Special Judge (PC Act) Vishal Gogne of the Rouse Avenue Courts listed the matter for pronouncing the order on July 29.

During the hearing, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) S.V. Raju, representing the ED, 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 Associated Journals Limited (AJL), the original publisher of the National Herald.

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.

On the other hand, 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.

Further, 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 R.S. Cheema, representing Rahul Gandhi, said the National Herald was never a commercial institution and the AICC just wanted to bring the newspaper back on the rails.

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.

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