A Delhi court has issued notices to Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi in connection with the National Herald money laundering case. The case is based on a 2014 complaint filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy and has been investigated by the Enforcement Directorate since 2021.
Special Judge Vishal Gogne said, “The right to be heard at any stage breathes life into a fair trial,” and scheduled the next hearing for May 8.
About the case
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a chargesheet in the National Herald money laundering case, where it has named Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi as the main accused. The ED has claimed that the two were part of a “criminal conspiracy” to take control of valuable properties of the Associated Journals Ltd (AJL), which publishes the National Herald newspaper.
The ED said that Sonia and Rahul Gandhi transferred 99% of AJL’s shares to a private company called Young Indian for just ₹50 lakh. These AJL assets were worth ₹2,000 crore at that time. Now, according to ED sources, the current value of these assets is around ₹5,000 crore. The ED has identified the “proceeds of crime” in the case as ₹988 crore, sources told PTI
The chargesheet also names Congress leaders Sam Pitroda and Suman Dubey as accused. It adds that the Associated Journals Ltd was originally founded by India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.
What has the ED accused Sonia and Rahul of doing?
The ED says that “principal officers” of AJL, Young Indian, and top Congress leaders worked together in a “criminal conspiracy” to take over AJL’s properties. The method, as mentioned in the chargesheet, was to transfer 99% of AJL shares to Young Indian, a private company, for only ₹50 lakh. Sonia and Rahul Gandhi together own 76% of Young Indian, while the late Motilal Vohra and Oscar Fernandes held the remaining 24%.
The ED said that the Congress party had given a loan of ₹90.21 crore to AJL. This loan was then converted into shares worth ₹9.02 crore, which were later transferred to Young Indian. Through this transfer, the Gandhis became “beneficial” owners of AJL properties worth thousands of crores, the chargesheet said.
Is Young Indian really a not-for-profit company?
Young Indian is registered under Section 25 of the Companies Act, which means it is a not-for-profit organisation. But the ED has claimed in its chargesheet that “no such charitable activity” was carried out by the company.
The case began in 2013, when former minister Subramanian Swamy filed a complaint against the Gandhis. Based on that complaint, a trial court had allowed the Income Tax Department to look into the National Herald’s finances. The ED’s case is based on that investigation and those findings.
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