Delhi court defers decision in National Herald case

New Delhi: A Delhi court on Tuesday deferred the pronouncement of its decision on the question of taking cognisance of the prosecution complaint filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the alleged National Herald money laundering case.

The high-profile case arrays Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Congress Overseas chief Sam Pitroda, Suman Dubey, and others as accused under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Special Judge (PC Act) Vishal Gogne, who was slated to deliver the verdict on Tuesday, deferred the pronouncement till the second week of August.

The Rouse Avenue Court had reserved its order on July 14 after hearing detailed arguments of the federal anti-money laundering agency as well as the proposed accused, including the Gandhis.

During the hearing, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) S.V. Raju, representing the ED, had claimed that Young Indian Ltd — in which Sonia and Rahul Gandhi are majority stakeholders – was used for usurping around Rs 2,000 crore assets of the National Herald by paying a nominal price of Rs 50 lakh.

ASG Raju said that Young Indian exists just in name, and all the other accused are puppets of the Gandhi family.

As per the ED, a conspiracy was hatched to form Young Indian to acquire control over the vast assets of the now-defunct newspaper, aimed at benefiting the top Congress leadership personally.

The Central agency said that several senior Congress leaders were involved in “fake transactions” made to Associated Journals Limited (AJL), the original publisher of the National Herald.

ASG Raju told the court that individuals were making fraudulent advance rent payments over several years at the direction of senior Congress functionaries with fabricated rent receipts.

The ED’s prosecution complaint claimed that by way of a malicious takeover, the Congress leadership had misappropriated property belonging to the AJL and converted public trusts into personal assets.

In contrast, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing Sonia Gandhi, had described the money laundering allegations as “really strange” and “unprecedented”, claiming that no tangible assets were involved.

Further, LoP Rahul Gandhi claimed that the All India Congress Committee’s attempts to revive the pre-Independence era newspaper were misconstrued as a bid to sell its assets.

Highlighting the non-profit objectives of the company, senior advocate R.S. Cheema, representing LoP Rahul Gandhi, said National Herald was never a commercial institution and the AICC just wanted to bring the newspaper back on the rails.

The controversy over National Herald’s assets came into focus in 2012 when BJP leader Subramanian Swamy filed a complaint in a trial court, alleging that Congress leaders had engaged in cheating and breach of trust in the process of acquiring AJL.

–IANS