Gandhis, Sam Pitroda, Suman Dubey named in ED chargesheet in National Herald case
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a chargesheet against Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and others on charges of money laundering in the National Herald case. Sonia is arrayed as first accused in the chargesheet, followed by Rahul and Young India company’s directors Sam Pitroda and Suman Dubey. Special Judge Vishal Gogne examined the charge sheet on Tuesday, which was filed on April 9, on the point of cognizance, and posted the matter for further proceedings on April 25.
“The present prosecution complaint shall next be taken up for consideration on the aspect of cognizance before this court on April 25, 2025, when the special counsel for the ED and IO shall also ensure the production of the case diaries for perusal by the court,” the judge said. The charge sheet was filed under Sections 3 (money laundering) and 4 (punishment for money laundering) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act by ED’s special public prosecutor, N K Matta.
“Let the complaint be checked and registered. The Ahlmad (court staff) shall ensure that the entire file/documents are properly paginated. The ED is directed to file a soft copy of the complaint and documents in readable/ OCR format by the next date,” the judge said. The Special Judge dealing with the cases of lawmakers also noted the submission of the ED, which said it would be moving an application before the district judge for the transfer of the case related to the predicate offence, being probed by the CBI for alleged cheating, criminal conspiracy and other offences, based on which the ED had started its investigation in the present matter, from another court to Judge Gogne’s court.
ED’s case stems from the private complaint filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, where the trial is going on. After the trail court issued summons to Sonia and Rahul in June 2014, Swamy had filed complaints to Income Tax and ED to probe on the tax evasion and money laundering angle on formation of a new company Young Indian and takeover of Associated Journal Limited, publisher of National Herald newspaper, which is having buildings in many cities.
On April 12, the ED issued a possession notice of the National Herald’s office buildings in Delhi, Mumbai, and Lucknow. The predicate offence is required to be tried by the same court that takes cognizance of the offence under Section 3 PMLA, the Jude said, and Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi were members of Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha, respectively. “Essentially, the two offences, viz the predicate offence and the PMLA offense, are required to be tried by the same court,” the judge said.
Since the allegations in the present complaint were arising from the predicate offence, the file in the predicate offence was required to be called for perusal, the court added. “However, the power of assignment or transfer of a matter is not vested with this court and is rather the prerogative of the Principal District & Sessions Judge, Rouse Avenue Courts Complex, New Delhi,” the court pointed out.
The ED investigation began in 2021 after a Metropolitan Magistrate in Patiala House courts in Delhi took cognizance of a private complaint filed by Subramanian Swamy on June 26, 2014. The complaint, the ED said, highlighted a “criminal conspiracy” by several prominent political figures, including the first family of the Congress party led by Sonia, her MP son Rahul, late Congress leaders Motilal Vora and Oscar Fernandes aside from Dubey, Pitroda and a private company Young Indian for their alleged involvement in money laundering in relation to the fraudulent takeover of properties valued over Rs.2,000 crore belonging to the Associated Journals Limited (AJL).
“The legal proceedings against the accused have faced challenges but have been upheld by both the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court of India, allowing the investigation to proceed,” the ED said.
Congress leaders Sonia and Rahul are majority shareholders of Young Indian with 38 per cent shares held by each one of them. They were questioned for hours by the ED in this case a few years ago.
The ED said that its investigation has “conclusively” found that Young Indian, a private company “beneficially owned” by Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, “acquired” AJL properties worth Rs.2,000 crore for a mere Rs.50 lakh, significantly undervaluing its worth. “Young Indian and AJL properties were used for the generation of further proceeds of crime in the form of bogus donations to the tune of Rs.18 crore, bogus advance rent to the tune of Rs 38 crore and bogus advertisements of Rs.29 crore,” said the ED.
PGurus Managing Editor Sree Iyer has written a detailed book – National Herald Frauds –in 2021. The book is available at this link in Amazon[1].
Reference:–
[1] National Herald frauds: Arrogant stealing of prime real estate – another instance of hubris of the Gandhi family – Amazon.in
If, from after the chargesheet stage the conviction rate of ED is 96%, the chances of Maa n Beta going to jail are should be 96%.Figures apart, to a layman it seems properties have been grabbed a white collar crime under the advise of tax experts, the lawyers a confidence of never being held to account. From trial court to supreme court is long way and who knows how many will live through it.