National Herald case: Delhi High Court will hear ED’s appeal against Sonia and Rahul’s relief today
National Herald case: A criminal revision petition filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against a trial court order that denied cognisance of its money laundering complaint against Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Lok Sabha Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi, and others in the alleged National Herald case is scheduled to be heard by the Delhi High Court on Monday.
A single-judge bench of Justice Ravinder Dudeja will hear the ED’s appeal against the Rouse Avenue Court ruling that rejected the prosecution case filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), according to the causelist posted on the Delhi High Court’s website.
The Rouse Avenue Court’s Special Judge (PC Act), Vishal Gogne, had previously refused to consider the ED’s suit, stating that it was not legally maintainable.
However, the court made it clear that the ED was free to carry out its inquiry in line with the law even as it granted relief to Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. In addition to the Gandhis, Congress Overseas chairman Sam Pitroda, Suman Dubey, Sunil Bhandari, Young Indian, and Dotex Merchandise Private Limited were listed by the ED as potential defendants in the case.
The high-profile case concerns claims that senior Congress leaders paid a nominal sum of Rs 50 lakh through Young Indian, a company in which Sonia and Rahul Gandhi are majority shareholders, in order to unlawfully obtain control over assets valued at over Rs 2,000 crore that belonged to Associated Journals Ltd (AJL), the original publisher of the National Herald newspaper.
The ED said that the case contained a “serious economic offense” and claimed that Young Indian was formed in order to take AJL’s holdings for a little amount of money, mostly for the benefit of the upper Congress leadership.
Additionally, it was alleged that a number of high-ranking members of Congress were engaged in “fake transactions,” such as issuing fictitious advance rent payments backed by phony rent receipts. However, the Congress leadership has continuously refuted the accusations, calling the money laundering case “unprecedented” and “really strange.”
When BJP leader Subramanian Swamy filed a lawsuit in a trial court in 2012, claiming that Congress leaders had participated in dishonesty and breach of trust during the acquisition of AJL, the dispute surrounding the National Herald’s assets came to light.