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The Enforcement Directorate has summoned interim Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi in connection with a money laundering case related to National Herald.
The summons has elicited sharp reactions from the Congress party, which has alleged that the case was closed by the investigating agency in 2015. “The BJP is using puppet agencies to intimidate political opponents. National Heral has a history that goes back to independence days,” Congress leader and senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi said.
“In 2015, the ED closed the National Herald case. But the govt didn’t like it and it removed the ED officials concerned, brought in new officials and reopened the case. This is to divert attention from inflation and other raging problems,” Singhvi added.
Earlier in April 2022, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had questioned senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge in connection with the money laundering probe linked to the National Herald case.
It is pertinent to note here that in 2020, the Enforcement Directorate had attached one of the most prime properties in Mumbai’s Bandra under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The said property, with market value to the tune of hundreds of crores of rupees, was illegally allotted to Associated Journals Limited (AJL).
The Bandra plot came under the spotlight after Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi were dragged to court in Delhi after Subramaniam Swamy filed a case accusing them of misappropriating the National Herald’s properties. The aforesaid property in Bandra was provided to National Herald in 1983 at concessional rates to publish the newspaper.
Similarly, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had earlier in December 2018 attached property worth Rs 30 crores in Mohali allotted by former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda in the case of Associated Journals & National Herald Case. The Supreme Court in 2918 upheld the Income Tax Department’s decision to re-open their tax assessment for the financial year 2011-2012 in connection with the National Herald Case.
National Herald Scam
The National Herald scam is one of the most notable legal cases in Indian history, as the Gandhis are directly accused. The Mother-Son duo of Congress President Rahul Gandhi and his mother Sonia, along with their aides – Oscar Fernandez, Motilal Vohra and Sam Pithroda are alleged to have been involved in massive ‘cheating and breach of trust’ in the acquisition of Associated Journals Ltd (AJL) by Young Indian Pvt Ltd (YIL). Assets worth crores of rupees had been allegedly transferred for purposes other than originally intended for a paltry sum. Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi got unconditional bail in December 2015.
