The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has accused Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi of orchestrating a “criminal conspiracy” to usurp properties worth ₹2,000 crore belonging to Associated Journals Ltd (AJL), publisher of the National Herald, by transferring 99 per cent of its shares to a private firm for merely ₹50 lakh.
The allegations form the core of the ED’s chargesheet filed in the National Herald money laundering case. According to sources quoted by PTI, the current market value of these assets stands at approximately ₹5,000 crore, while the “proceeds of crime” have been pegged at ₹988 crore.
In the chargesheet, Sonia Gandhi has been named as accused number one, and Rahul Gandhi as accused number two. A special court is set to take a call on whether to take cognisance of the chargesheet on 25 April.
Congress leaders Sam Pitroda and Suman Dubey have also been named in the chargesheet as co-accused.
The ED has sought the prosecution of all accused under Section 4 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), which carries a maximum punishment of up to seven years’ imprisonment.
The investigation follows a trial court’s order that allowed the Income Tax Department to probe the finances of the National Herald and conduct a tax assessment of the Gandhis. The order had stemmed from a petition filed in 2013 by former Union minister Subramanian Swamy.
What the ED chargesheet alleges
According to the ED, “principal officers” of AJL, Young Indian (the private firm), and senior Congress functionaries were involved in a coordinated conspiracy to acquire AJL’s assets.
The agency states that AJL’s outstanding loan of ₹90.21 crore, extended by the Congress, was “converted” into ₹9.02 crore worth of equity shares. These shares were then transferred to Young Indian for ₹50 lakh.
The ED contends, “Thus, through this transfer, Sonia and Rahul became the ‘beneficial’ owners of properties of AJL worth thousands of crores.”
Sonia and Rahul Gandhi together hold a 76 per cent stake in Young Indian, while the remaining 24 per cent was earlier held by the late Motilal Vohra and the late Oscar Fernandes.
The ED has further argued that Young Indian is registered as a “not-for-profit” entity under Section 25 of the Companies Act, yet it found no evidence of any charitable activity being carried out by the company.
The AJL, which was founded by India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, is a public company.
The ED’s case hinges on the assertion that the Congress party’s internal dealings with AJL were a front for diverting valuable assets into a private structure controlled by Sonia and Rahul Gandhi. It is now for the court to determine whether there is enough prima facie evidence to proceed with the trial.
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