New Delhi:
Congress leader Sonia Gandhi misused her position as the then Congress President for personal benefit to herself and her son Rahul Gandhi, who was converting public funds for self -use through the young Indian (YI) company, Ed is allegedly considered in his charge sheet filed in the National Herald case.
The two leaders, sources quoted PTI as saying the charge sheet, during the recording of their statements a few years ago, they have told the federal investigative agency that they were “not information” about the activities in YI and Associated Journal Limited (AJL).
He is understood that the agency was told that all these cases were taken care of by the late Congress leader Motilal Vora as he was “strong” to deal with administrative and financial matters.
The charge sheet was filed on 9 April and the local court is yet to take cognizance.
The ED has nominated 78 -year -old former Congress president and Rajya Sabha MP Sonia Gandhi as accused No. 1 and his son Rahul Gandhi (54) as the accused No. 2, which is in addition to five other people in the complaint of prosecution filed under the prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The National Herald-ASL-YI case relates to an alleged conspiracy, which is ready to illegally get the underlying assets of AJL by the beneficial owners of YI (Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi) and the majority shareholders.
AJL is a publisher of the National Herald News Platform (newspaper and web portal) and is owned by Young Indian Private Limited.
The charge sheet is believed to have alleged that Sonia Gandhi misused her position as the then AICC President (2010-11) for the “personal benefit” of herself and her son Rahul Gandhi.
The ED has alleged that this “Sham” transaction could not be executed without its knowledge and active participation, which according to the sources, who knows the president of AICC and in charge of cases.
On Rahul Gandhi, the Ed Chargesheet is believed to have “cheated” AJL shareholders and AICC donors along with other accused.
He was involved in the process and activity associated with a party and/or actually the income of a party and/or really crime, including the use of acquisition, possession, hide and crime income, which is worth Rs 988 crore in the case, it is alleged.
The Congress has described Ed’s charge sheet against Gandhi as Vendetta politics.
The opposition party had claimed last month that the Ed Chargesheet was an attempt to draw attention to the country’s economic crisis that was facing the country. It said that the matter was nothing but political vengeance in the legal disguise.
The ED has said that its investigation has found that all AICC, AJL and Yi’s office carriers are “failed” to provide any documentary evidence about AJL’s revival and instead tried to put the onos of these activities on a dead person (Vora).
This includes the statement of the current President Mallikrajun Kharge, who said that all the decisions about AJL and Yi were taken by the late leader.
The agency claimed that these statements were included by Gandhis, which was placed on Ons on Vora, “nothing but an attempt to mislead and remove the investigation”.
Rahul Gandhi is understood that he had informed the ED that he was never associated with AJL in any way and was neither a shareholder nor a director.
He told the ED that the revival of AJL was the testimony of good work done by Vora, which was to fulfill its “constitutional duty” to revive an institution of national importance.
The agency, sources said, it is believed in his charge sheet that some senior Congress leaders, who were the office beer in the YI under the “protection” of two Gandhis, impressed various people, including some party leaders, in which to arrange for money for YI in the “cover of charity”.
These funds were sought from the AICC office in exchange for “” Ehsan “in exchange for” “Ehsan”, the ED said that it has been said.
The ED is also understood that the charge sheet states that some donors’ family members and relatives had either selected on the Congress ticket or they were promised “some positions” in political hierarchy.
The charge sheet mentions, according to sources, the investigation of the case concluded a “a single” concluded that the flow of money in AJL and Yi could not have been “active aid” and without “instructions” from senior Congress leaders and members of the Gandhi family.
According to sources, the charge sheet claimed that AICC had nothing to assign a loan to YI, but a “Sham” transaction was executed to owe AJL’s assets, which is worth hundreds of crore rupees for an amount of Rs 50 lakhs by creating YI as AJL’s holding company.
For this, sources said, the co-speculators were placed in “strategically” in all three institutions (AICC-AJL-Yi), which started the process.
The ED added various statements of the donors, including Amit Deshmukh, son of the late Congress leader, and Maharashtra CM Vilasro Deshmukh, where he said that his Chinese company said that his Chinese company gave two advertisements of Rs 18 lakh to the National Herald on Vora’s instructions.
One of these advertisements was for the AICC plane session which was to be held in Delhi (Rs 12 lakh) in 2018 and the second year (Rs 6 lakh) used to wish Sonia Gandhi a happy birthday.
The ED also stated that in January 2011, out of a total of 1,089 shareholders, only seven members out of a total of 1,089 shareholders had taken an important decision to maintain 99 percent stake of AJL, and no “proper efforts” were made to call most shareholders of AJL for the extraordinary general meeting (EGM).
(Except for the headline, the story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is published by a syndicated feed.)
