Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a chargesheet naming Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in a money laundering case related to the National Herald newspaper, news agency PTI reported on April 15. The two leaders have been named as accused number and number 2 in the chargesheet.
The central investigation agency has filed a prosecution complaint in Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court against Congress Members of Parliament Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Congress Overseas Chief Sam Pitroda in the alleged National Herald money laundering case, news agency ANI said.
The chargesheet, submitted on April 9, was reviewed by Special Judge Vishal Gogne. “The chargesheet also names Suman Dubey and others. The court has scheduled the hearing of cognisance arguments for April 25,” the news agency said
A prosecution complaint has been filed under Sections 44 and 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, for the commission of the offence of money laundering, as defined under Section 3, read with Section 70, and punishable under Section 4 of the PMLA, 2002, news agency ANI said.
What is the National Herald money laundering case?
Both Sonia and Rahul have been questioned as part of the probe before
Rahul Gandhi, was last questioned by ED in the case in June 2022. His mother Sonia Gandhi was also questioned about her role in the day-to-day functioning of Young Indian Private Limited (YIL). The mother-son duo were questioned about the ownership of YIL by the Gandhi family and its shareholding pattern in Associated Journals Limited (AJL), the company that runs the National Herald newspaper.
ED began its probe in the National Herald case after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy filed a complaint in 2014, accusing Sonia, Rahul and other senior Congress leaders of taking over AJL properties for a mere sum of ₹50 lakh. The properties are worth over ₹2,000 crore.
The National Herald is published by AJL, which is owned by YIL . Sonia and Rahul Gandhi each hold a 38 per cent stake in Young Indian, making them its majority shareholders.
On April 12, ED served notices to take possession of immovable assets worth ₹661 crore — in Delhi, Mumbai and Lucknow — that it had attached as part of a money laundering probe linked to National Herald newspaper and Associated Journals Limited (AJL).
The ED had attached these properties earlier by issuing a provisional attachment order in a PMLA case against AJL.
The History of the National Herald
The National Herald, started by India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, was published by the AJL. In 2010, the AJL, which faced financial difficulties, was taken over by a newly-floated YIL with Suman Dubey andSam Pitroda, both of them Gandhi loyalists, as directors.
There are allegations that AJL was founded in the 1930s to print National Herald and had 5,000 freedom fighters as shareholders. AJL is now in Gandhi’s family ownership. AJL declared in 2008 that it would not print newspapers anymore and will enter real estate.
In 2010, a new firm called YIL was incorporated with ₹5 lakh and Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi, among other Congress leaders, as directors. It pledged to do charity but, as per allegations, did none until 2016.
The probe agency, while attaching ₹751 crore worth assetsof AJL and YI in November 2023, claimed that a criminal conspiracy was hatched to give control of properties worth “hundreds of crores of rupees” of AJLto the “beneficial owners” of Young Indian, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.
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