In what has added to the worries of Congress party, the Enforcement Directorate on Friday registered preliminary enquiry in alleged misappropriation of funds in Associated Journals Limited through Young India, a company owned by the Gandhi family. The case is famously referred to as National Herald case.
ED's headquarter investigation unit would be probing if there was any money laundering angle involved in the matter. The PE was registered on the complaint of BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, who has also filed a private criminal complaint in trial court regarding the issue.
Meanwhile, Delhi High Court has sent a notice to Swamy to submit a reply to the petitions filed by the Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and others, against the trial court summons asking them to appear before the court on August 7. Congress party treasurer Moti Lal Vohra, party general secretary Oscar Fernandes, Sam Pitroda and journalist Suman Dubey have also been asked to appear before the court.
Former law minister and senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Sonia Gandhi, sought a stay on the proceedings pending in the trial court. Besides Sibal, senior lawyers, including Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Haren Raval and Ramesh Gupta appeared on behalf of accused Congress leaders.
"The matter is listed for August 7 before the trial court. I will pass an order before that," Justice VP Vaish, who has fixed the petitions for hearing at 2.30 pm on August 5.
Earlier, IT department also served a notice to Congress party asking them to explain the divergence of funds exempted from tax to National Herald and thereby Young Indian. Sonia Gandhi had accused the government of 'vindictiveness' in the wake of an income tax notice.
In his petition Swamy had alleged misappropriation of assets worth Rs 2,000 crore of the AJL by Gandhis. He had accused the family of cheating and criminal breach of trust by diverting Congress party's funds to the family-controlled Young India, a company formed in 2010. Sonia and Rahul own 76 per cent shares in the company. He alleged that by just paying Rs 50 lakh YI obtained the right to recover Rs90.25 crore which the AJL had owed to the Congress party. AJL owns real estate properties worth millions in Delhi, Mumbai, Patna, Lucknow, Indore, Bhopal and other places.
The National Herald newspaper was established in 1938 by India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Rahul Gandhi is Nehru's grandson. The newspaper was shut down in 2008. AJL also published "Navjivan" in Hindi and "Quami Awaz" in Urdu.
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