Senior Congress leaders ‘conspired' to ‘usurp' properties worth Rs 2,000 crore: ED in National Herald money laundering case
Senior leaders of the Indian National Congress 'conspired' to 'usurp' properties worth Rs 2,000 crore, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has submitted before a Delhi court. These allegations are part of the chargesheet filed on April 9 by the central agency in the National Herald money laundering case in which Sonia and Rahul Gandhi have been named as accused, sources said.
Associated Journals Ltd (AJL), which used to publish the National Herald newspaper, had real estate properties worth Rs 2,000 crore, which the Congress wanted to acquire fraudulently, the ED has alleged, sources said. The ED has pegged the current market value of the assets linked to the case at Rs 5,000 crore.
According to sources, as per the ED, the party provided an interest-free loan to AJL worth Rs 90.21 crore under the consideration of just Rs 50 lakh. This loan was reportedly converted into equity in favour of the not-for-profit company Young Indian (YI) in which Sonia and Rahul Gandhi held a 38 per cent stake each.
The loan, the ED said, as per sources, was converted into 9.02 crore shares of Rs 10 each in favour of YI, which was incorporated in 2010. In 2008, AJL had stopped the publication of National Herald and other associated newspapers.
A 'criminal conspiracy was hatched' by the accused (Sonia, Rahul and others) to give control of properties worth hundreds of crores of AJL to the beneficial owners of YI, the ED has alleged, as per sources.
It is learnt that the ED has stated that the Congress has failed to explain how the loan owed to AJL was determined to be 'irrecoverable', and why the party did not explore options (other than acquiring shares of the company) to recover the loan.
The central agency also reportedly questioned why the then newly incorporated YI was chosen to give a loan of Rs 90 crore to AJL, which had real estate assets worth crores of rupees. How the value of Rs 50 lakh was arrived at for the loan of Rs 90.21 crore could also not be explained as per the agency, sources said.
Sources said that the ED alleged that various shareholders had given Rs 89 lakh to AJL at a time when the value of the currency was many times more than its present value. Had this alleged fraud of acquiring AJL not been committed, shareholders would have received several thousand times what they had initially invested, the ED claimed, sources added.
YI has also been accused of various other irregularities. In 2017, for instance, the income tax department had accused YI of evading tax worth Rs 414 crore.
The ED, on the other hand, alleged that AJL received donations worth Rs 18 crore that were not genuine and that it also received a 'bogus' rent of Rs 38.41 crore in 2017-18. On top of this, sources said, as per the ED, the firm also received Rs 15.86 crore as revenue from the Congress party as ads in the form of 'birthday wishes and congratulatory messages' to Congress leaders.
According to the ED's estimates, the total proceeds of crime in this case are Rs 988 crore, said sources. Of these, rent allegedly amounts to Rs 142.6 crore, shares of AJL with YI are worth Rs 90 crore, and immovable properties account for Rs 755 crore.
As per its chargesheet, YI had the same set of people appointed as AJL. The loan was assigned by the same set of people who held positions in the two entities, it is learnt.
Earlier in April, the ED had served notices to take possession of immovable assets worth Rs 661 crore — in Delhi, Mumbai and Lucknow — that it had attached as part of the money laundering probe against AJL and YI. Both Sonia and Rahul were questioned in 2022 as part of the probe.
Other than the firms and the Gandhis, the ED has also named Congress leaders Suman Dubey and Sam Pitroda as accused in this case. Firms M/s Young India, and M/s Dotex Merchandise Pvt Ltd have also been named.
The case initially originated from a criminal complaint filed by then BJP Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy in 2012 against the Gandhis and other leaders of the Congress party. He accused them of fraud in acquiring the property of AJL.
After a trial court order allowed the income tax department to probe the affairs of National Herald and conduct a tax assessment of Sonia and Rahul, the ED got involved in the case.
On Wednesday, the ED, represented by Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, Special Counsel Zoheb Hossain and Special Public Prosecutor N K Matta, made preliminary submissions before Special Judge Vishal Gogne of Rouse Avenue Court, who is hearing the case. The judge listed the matter for hearing on a day-to-day basis on July 2, and arguments on cognizance of the chargesheet will continue.
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