After the Enforcement Directorate (ED) questioned Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Pawan Bansal in connection with the National Herald money laundering probe, the central agency has summoned party president Sonia Gandhi and Lok Sabha MP Rahul Gandhi to appear on June 8. . The case is related to the case registered six months ago.
The summons drew a furious reaction from Congress, which described the case as “strange” because “no money was involved” and said the allegations were “more hollow than a deck of cards”. “We will face them. We are not a little scared or intimidated or intimidated by such cheap tactics,” party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said at a press conference and party communications chief Randeep Surjewala.
Reacting to Congress’ allegations that the government was trying to crush the opposition like how the British tried during the freedom struggle, BJP President J P Nadda said that “documents are not lies, and documents are permanent, and That’s why they are being investigated”. “The problem is with the face, but the mirror is being cleaned,” Nadda told reporters in Bhopal on a three-day visit.
Swamy’s complaint alleges fraud and misappropriation of funds on the part of the Gandhi family in obtaining the newspaper. Swamy had alleged that the Gandhi family acquired properties owned by the National Herald by buying ALJ, the former publisher of the newspaper, through an organization called Young India, in which they hold 86 per cent. On December 19, 2015, the trial court granted bail to Sonia and Rahul in this case.
In Swamy’s complaint before the trial court, Sonia, Rahul and others are alleged to have owed ALJ to Congress the right to recover Rs 90.25 crore from funds by paying Rs 50 lakh to Young Indian (YI) has been misused.
It was alleged that YI, which was incorporated in November 2010 with a capital of Rs 50 lakh, had acquired almost all stakes in ALJ, running the National Herald. The I-T department had claimed that the shares owned by Rahul in YI would have earned him an income of Rs 154 crore and not about Rs 68 lakh, as assessed earlier. It has already issued a demand notice of Rs 249.15 crore to YI for 2011-12.
Earlier, the ED had launched a money-laundering probe against ALJ in 2018 connected with a plot allotted by the then Chief Minister and Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda in Panchkula, Haryana. The ED had attached the action alleging that the company had acquired it “by fraud”. Hooda is an accused in the money laundering case registered by the agency in this case.
The Congress on Wednesday said the summons for Sonia and Rahul were received “just a few days ago” and that Sonia would appear before the ED “100 cents”. “If Rahul Gandhi is here, he will also go. Otherwise, we will ask for some time,” Singhvi said.
“In this case, the Enforcement Case Information Report has been registered based on the court order following Subramanian Swamy’s complaint. The ED is authorised to register a case if there is a court order specifying that a crime has been committed,” an ED official said.
