The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has officially filed a chargesheet against Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi for their alleged role in a money laundering racket related to the National Herald newspaper.
The chargesheet, filed in a New Delhi court on April 9, identifies Sonia Gandhi as Accused No. 1 and Rahul Gandhi as Accused No. 2. The chargesheet also lists Congress members Suman Dubey and Sam Pitroda, the firm Young Indian, Dotex Merchandise Private Limited, and Sunil Bhandari of Dotex Merchandise. The ED has invoked various provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), asking for prosecution under Section 4, the maximum punishment under which is seven years. Under the ED version, senior officers of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) and top officers of Associated Journals Limited (AJL) and Young Indian hatched a conspiracy to buy properties for ₹2,000 crore in value belonging to AJL.
The agency accuses 99% of AJL's shares being given to Young Indian for a mere ₹50 lakh. Sonia and Rahul Gandhi together have a 38% share in Young Indian, and the rest 24% were held together by the deceased Motilal Vora and Oscar Fernandes. The ED also alleges that a pending loan of ₹90.21 crore, which had been earlier granted by the AICC to AJL, was reclassified as equity shares worth ₹9.02 crore, allowing the suspected misappropriation.
The Congress party has criticized the allegations as politically motivated and accused the ruling government of utilizing investigation agencies for vendetta politics. The case is listed for its next hearing on April 25.
