Sonia Gandhi, the interim Congress president, and her son, Lok Sabha MP Rahul Gandhi, were summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday for questioning in a money laundering case involving the National Herald newspaper.
The National Herald is owned by Young Indian Pvt Limited and published by Associated Journals Limited (AJL). The National Herald newspaper was launched in 1938 by former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru and other freedom fighters.
In 2013, BJP MP Subramanian Swamy filed a private criminal complaint in a trial court accusing Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and other Congress leaders of “conspiring to victimise and misappropriate funds with Young Indian Pvt Ltd paying only Rs 50 lakh to obtain the right to recover Rs 90.25 crore owed to the grand old party by Associate Journals Ltd.”
The National Herald newspaper was shut down in 2008, with a debt of about Rs 90 crore. Swamy said that YIL had’maliciously’ ‘taken over’ the National Herald’s assets. Suman Dubey and technocrat Sam Pitroda are the other defendants in this case.
The ED has already questioned Mallikarjuna Kharge, the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, and senior Congress leader Pawan Kumar Bansal in connection with a Prevention of Money Laundering case relating to the National Herald issue.
Initially, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) began investigating the case, and the ED filed a complaint based on the CBI’s findings.
The Gandhis were served with a notice by the Delhi High Court in February 2021, asking a response to Swamy’s petition to lead evidence in the case before the trial court. Swamy’s appeal had been labelled “misconceived and inappropriate” by the Gandhis.
ED will question to Soniya Gandhi on June 8 whereas, Rahul will have to appear before june 2.
