Gandhis conspired to usurp Rs 2k crore co: ED in Herald case

Time of India

11 hours ago

NEW DELHI: ED on Wednesday told a special court that former Congress presidents Sonia and Rahul Gandhi wanted to take over a Rs 2,000 crore company - Associated Journals Limited (AJL) - that once published party organ National Herald.
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The agency, through additional solicitor general (ASG) SV Raju, submitted before the court of Special Judge Vishal Gogne that a conspiracy was hatched to create Young Indian Pvt Ltd, a not-for-profit company, in which Sonia and Rahul held 76% shares (38% each), to siphon off assets of AJL in lieu of repaying a Rs 90 crore loan (taken by AJL) to Congress. This debt was converted into equity in favour of Young Indian (YI), ED argued.
The agency argued that the whole scheme was conceived for the benefit of the Gandhis, who controlled YI as well as AJL, the latter, while being in loss, had enough assets to repay the loan.
"Losses were to the tune of Rs 70 lakh. They (YI) didn't even have the wherewithal to pay Rs 50 lakh. During this time, Rahul and Sonia were directors of the company along with Sam Pitroda and others," said Raju, adding that AJL was not making profit but it had assets worth Rs 2,000 crore.
"How come they (AJL and its functionaries) didn't have Rs 90 crore to repay the loan (given by Congress)? Any prudent person would've sold their assets to repay loans.
This is absurd and can never be explained," the ASG argued.
The hearing saw Raju refuting the suggestion that since AJL was started by the first PM, Jawahar Lal Nehru, it was alright for Congress to acquire it.
Referring to Sonia and Rahul, ED said till 2015, only these two individuals were the actual beneficiaries with full control over AJL's assets and functioning.
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The court will continue to hear arguments on Thursday too. "AJL was not making a profit but it had large assets of Rs 2,000 crore. They were finding it difficult to manage their daily affairs. Thus, a Rs 90 crore loan was taken from Congress," ASG submitted.
He said several senior Congress functionaries engaged in fake transactions that existed only on paper to divert funds to AJL, adding that fabricated rent receipts and fraudulent advance rent payments were made over several years.