North India Statesman
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New Delhi: The Delhi High Court is scheduled to hear on Monday a criminal review petition filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) challenging a trial court order that had refused to take cognizance of a money laundering complaint against Congress Parliamentary Party President Sonia Gandhi, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and others in the so-called National Herald case.
According to the list of cases published on the Delhi High Court website, a single-judge bench headed by Justice Ravinder Dudeja will hear the ED’s plea challenging the Rouse Avenue court order that had rejected its prosecution complaint filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Earlier, Rouse Avenue Court Special Judge (PC Act) Vishal Gogane had refused to take cognizance of the ED complaint, holding that it was not admissible in law.
In a relief to Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, the court made it clear that the ED is free to continue its investigation as per law. Apart from the Gandhi family, the ED has also named Congress expatriate chief Sam Pitroda, Suman Dubey, Sunil Bhandari, Young Indians and Dotex Merchandise Pvt Ltd as potential accused in the case.
The high-profile case pertains to allegations that senior Congress leaders conspired to illegally take over assets worth over Rs 2,000 crore of Associated Journals Ltd (AJL), the parent publisher of the National Herald newspaper, and paid a nominal sum of Rs 50 lakh through a company called Young Indian, in which Sonia and Rahul Gandhi are majority shareholders.
The ED had argued that the case involved a “serious economic offence” and had alleged that a conspiracy was hatched to form a party called Young Indians to grab the properties of AJL for nominal sums, the main objective of which was to benefit the top leadership of the Congress.
It also claimed that several senior Congress leaders were involved in fraudulent transactions, including fraudulent release of advance fare payments on the basis of forged fare receipts. However, the Congress leadership has consistently denied these allegations and described this case of money laundering as “extremely strange” and “unprecedented”.
The dispute over the assets of National Herald came to the fore in 2012 when BJP leader Subramanian Swamy filed a complaint in a lower court, alleging fraud and breach of trust by Congress leaders in the process of taking over AJL.
