ED chargesheets Sonia and Rahul Gandhi in National Herald case

The Enforcement Directorate filed a prosecution complaint against senior Congress leaders Rahul and Sonia Gandhi before a Delhi court on Tuesday. The chargesheet also names Congress Overseas Chief Sam Pitroda, Suman Dubey and others in connection with the alleged National Herald money laundering case. The Rouse Avenue Court has since scheduled a hearing for cognisance arguments on April 25. “A prosecution complaint has been filed under Sections 44 and 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, for the commission of the offence of money laundering, as defined under Section 3, read with Section 70, and punishable under Section 4 of the PMLA, 2002,” news agency ANI quoted the probe agency as saying.
The ‘National Herald case’ pertains to allegations of financial irregularities and misappropriation of funds pertaining to the acquisition of Associated Journals by Young Indian. The original complaint was filed by former BJP MP Subramanian Swamy and alleged that YIL had taken over the assets in a ‘malicious’ bid to acquire properties worth more than Rs 2000 crore. The National Herald is published by AJL and owned by Young Indian Private Limited. Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are majority shareholders of Young Indian — each holding 38%.
Special Judge Vishal Gogne stated that as per the submission of the counsel representing the ED, the predicate offence--recorded under complaint case No. 18/2019--includes charges under Sections 403, 406, and 420, read with Section 120(B) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860, and is currently under trial at the Rouse Avenue Courts in New Delhi. The court observed that under Section 44(1)(c) of the PMLA, the predicate offence must be tried in the same court that has taken cognisance of the money laundering offence under Section 3 of the PMLA. The court further noted that both offences--the predicate offence and the PMLA offence--must be adjudicated in the same jurisdiction.