New Delhi:
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday told a Delhi court that Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi were beneficiaries of Rs 142 crore in the income of crime in connection with the ongoing National Herald Money Laundering case. The central agency argued that a case was set up under the prevention of the Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
In the Rousse Avenue Court, the special judge Vishal Gogan was presented, the initial arguments on whether the court should pay attention to the complaint of prosecution of ED filed against two senior Congress leaders and other accused.
The complaint stems from the 2014 private criminal complaint filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, which was noted by the Magistrate Court in June 2014. The ED formally started its investigation in 2021.
The rescue represented by senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi requested time to respond, citing the nature of the documents of the case, which is on about 5,000 pages.
In the ED’s complaint, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Sam Pitroda, Suman Dubey, Young Indian Private Limited and two affiliated firms have been named as accused. The agency states that Young Indian was built as a vehicle to gain control over Associated Journal Limited (AJL), which was now a publisher of the National Herald newspaper, and its assets were reportedly over Rs 2,000 crore.
During today’s hearing, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju told the court that the young Indian was “a Sham unit”, designed to convert public donations in the Congress party into personal property.
The ED presented that the property was attached to the case in November 2023. Till that point, the accused said, “Was in the possession of the income of the crime and bliss, in which the rental income was Rs 142 crore.”
