Senior Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi have been charged with criminal conspiracy in the National Herald money laundering case as part of a fresh First Information Report registered by the Economic Offences Wing of the Delhi Police against six individuals and three companies.
The FIR names Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Sam Pitroda and three other individuals, along with Associated Journals Limited, the parent company of the now-defunct National Herald newspaper, Young Indian, a not-for-profit company, and Dotex Merchandise Private Limited, an alleged Kolkata-based shell company. It alleges a criminal conspiracy to fraudulently take over Associated Journals Limited.
According to the complaint, Dotex Merchandise Private Limited provided Rs 1 crore to Young Indian, a company in which Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi together held 76 per cent shareholding. Through this transaction, Young Indian allegedly paid Rs 50 lakh to the Congress party and acquired control of Associated Journals Limited, which owned assets worth approximately Rs 2,000 crore.
The FIR, dated October 3, was registered on the basis of a complaint filed by the Enforcement Directorate, which shared its investigation report with the Delhi Police. The registration was carried out under Section 66(2) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, which allows the ED to direct any agency to register and investigate a scheduled offence.
Also Read: National Herald Case: ED flags bogus transfers to Congress firm
The development came to light a day after a Delhi court deferred pronouncement of its order in the main National Herald case to December 16.
The National Herald controversy began in 2012 when BJP leader Subramanian Swamy filed a private complaint alleging cheating and breach of trust by Congress leaders in the acquisition of Associated Journals Limited, the publisher of the National Herald newspaper founded in 1938 by Jawaharlal Nehru and other freedom fighters.
The newspaper ceased print publication in 2008 owing to financial difficulties, leaving the company with an outstanding debt of around Rs 90 crore. To help Associated Journals Limited overcome the crisis, the Congress party extended a loan of Rs 90 crore to it, disbursed over approximately ten years in around 100 instalments.
Also Read: National Herald case: ED probe quite strange, says Sonia Gandhi
The Congress has maintained that neither the newspaper nor Associated Journals Limited could repay the loan, so the amount was converted into equity shares. Since a political party cannot directly hold equity shares, these were allotted to Young Indian, a not-for-profit company incorporated in 2010. Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi each own 38 per cent of the shares in Young Indian, with the remaining shares held by Motilal Vora, Oscar Fernandes, Sam Pitroda and Suman Dubey. Both Gandhi leaders also serve as directors of the company.
Through this arrangement, Young Indian became the majority shareholder of Associated Journals Limited, giving it effective control over the company and its substantial assets.
Also Read: National Herald case: Court delays ED chargesheet review
Follow us
