National Herald probe: ED to file appeal against court’s decision

AS a new delhi margaret court on tues refused to occupy ken of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) charge sheet against former Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, and leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, in the National Herald probe, the federal financial crimes probe agency has decided to challenge the order, officials familiar with the development said.They said the Delhi Police’s economic offences wing (EOW) has, in October, already registered a first information report (FIR) in the ED’s complaint and the cops are likely to conclude their investigation “quickly”, which will give the central agency a predicate offence case.“Meanwhile, we will consult with our legal team and file an appeal against the special PMLA court’s Tuesday order,” said an officer, who asked not to be named.The special judge at PMLA court, Rouse Avenue courts, Vishal Gogne refused to take cognizance of the ED charge sheet, filed in April this year, noting that it was based on a private complaint (by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy) and not on the basis of a FIR of predicate offence.This was one of a kind probe initiated by ED in 2021 under prevention of money laundering act (PMLA) based on a cognizance order issued on June 26, 2014, by a Delhi court on a private complaint filed by Swamy.Also Read: National Herald: Court refuses to take cognisance of ED chargesheet against GandhisDuring its probe, ED questioned Sonia and Rahul Gandhi other than several past and present functionaries of the Associated Journals Limited (AJL), the parent company of the Congress party run National Herald newspaper.After completing the probe, ED filed a charge sheet on April 9 naming Sonia and Rahul Gandhi as accused number 1 and 2, respectively, under sections 3 and 4 (which deal with the money laundering and its punishment) and section 70 (offences by companies) of the PMLA. The charges attract a maximum seven-year imprisonment.Besides Gandhis, Sam Pitroda and Suman Dubey, both family loyalists and founding directors of Young Indian Private Limited (YI) - a company in which the mother and son hold 76% percent stake – and the company itself were also named.ED had earlier, in 2023, also attached assets worth ₹751.9 crore including National Herald building in the case.ED’s primary allegations against Gandhis are that they are beneficial owners of the newspaper’s parent company Associated Journals Limited’s assets worth ₹2,000 crore, which were acquired for a mere ₹50 lakh.The federal agency identified proceeds of crime worth ₹988 crore in the case.With a court now declining to accept the ED probe based on Swamy’s complaint, the agency will have to wait for Delhi Police to finish its probe and most likely redo the entire exercise - including questioning of individuals, attachment and filing of charge sheet, according to a person familiar with the probe.“The evidence may remain the same but the process has to be followed again based on the FIR of Delhi police,” this person said.ED has taken this approach previously in a case pertaining to Chhattisgarh liquor contracts related irregularities. ED’s Chhattisgarh liquor probe, which was going on since 2022, was quashed by the Supreme Court on April 8 last year as it was based on an income-tax complaint and didn’t form part of the scheduled offence, a requirement for the agency to go ahead with money laundering probes.However, a day later, on April 9, 2024, ED filed a fresh case in the matter based on a first information report (FIR) filed by Chhattisgarh police on January 17, 2024.The fresh ED ECIR (enforcement case information report), which is equivalent to a first information report (FIR), allowed it to reinvestigate the charges.Established in 1937 by Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, AJL published the National Herald, Qaumi Awaz in Urdu and Navjeevan in Hindi. It was given land in various cities of India for the purpose of publishing newspapers. But it closed operations in 2008 and offered voluntary retirement to all employees, which was accepted by them; by then, the debt on its books had risen to ₹90 crore. It was taken over in 2010 by Young Indian (YI), a company in which Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi together hold 76%.