Exclusive: National Herald case: What the ED chargesheet against Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi says

The Enforcement Directorate has filed a chargesheet against Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in the National Herald case, charging them with money laundering. The chargesheet, filed on April 9, was examined by Special Judge Vishal Gogne. The case has now been adjourned to April 25.

The case was registered in 2013 on a complaint filed by Subramanian Swamy against Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Motilal Vora, Oscar Fernandes, Suman Dubey, Sam Pitroda and Young Indian. The ED's investigation in this case began with a cognizance taking order issued by the Lieutenant Metropolitan Magistrate-02 (MM-02) of the Patiala House Court, New Delhi, in 2014.

The accused challenged this cognizance order in the Delhi High Court and later in the Supreme Court. However, both the courts refused to interfere with the trial process.

The main allegation is that in 2010, key officials of Associated Journals Limited (AJL) and Young Indian (YI) and key office bearers of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) entered into a criminal conspiracy to embezzle assets worth Rs 2,000 crore of AJL (a non-publicly listed company). 99% of the shares were transferred to a private company called Young Indian for just Rs 50 lakh. Of this, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi jointly held 76%.

The accused persons entered into a criminal conspiracy and converted the loan of Rs 90.21 crore given to AJL by AICC into 9.02 crore equity shares. All these shares were transferred to Young Indian for Rs 50 lakh, the ED says. By transferring majority stake in AJL to YI, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi got ownership of all the assets of AJL worth thousands of crores.

The ED investigation has found that Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi conspired to control Young Indian as they held 76 per cent of its shares. The remaining 24 per cent shares were jointly held by Sonia and Rahul's close aides, late Motilal Vora and late Oscar Fernandes.

Although the company was incorporated under Section 25 (non-profit company/charitable activity), it has been found that no such charitable activity was carried out in the company. The ED said that the investigation has also found that no expenditure was incurred for the charitable activities declared by them.

The accused have also been charged with possessing and using proceeds of crime in the form of shares and immovable properties of AJL worth thousands of crores of rupees. The ED had attached AJL's properties worth Rs 752 crore on November 20, 2023.

The ED says that the findings of the investigation conducted by the ED under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act are also supported by the Income Tax Department's assessment order for the year 2010-11. The Income Tax Department alleges that Young Indian committed tax violations of over Rs 414 crore by illegally acquiring AJL's properties in 2017. The assessment order dated December 27, 2017, mentions that key office bearers of AICC, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Motilal Vora and Oscar Fernandes, and key office bearers of AJL, Motilal Vora and Oscar Fernandes, had premeditatedly planned fraudulent and fraudulent actions to acquire AJL.

The aim was twofold. The aim was to obtain valuable benefits included in AJL's business assets and to avoid paying tax on the business income derived from obtaining such benefits. Young Indian questioned the assessment order. Subsequently, a reassessment was conducted and it was found that Young Indian had an income of Rs 398 crore.

On November 23, 2010, YI was merged with an SPV. In 2008, AJL had ceased its publishing operations and acquired assets worth hundreds of crores of rupees. The ED also said that the accused had criminally conspired to give control of AJL's assets to Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.

YI had asked AJL to repay the loan of Rs 90.21 crore given by AICC or convert this loan into equity. AJL had called an annual general meeting to increase capital and convert YI's loan into equity. A resolution was passed to increase the authorised share capital of AJL and convert YI's loan into equity.

YI became the holding company of AJL. YI retained 99 percent of the shares. The equity of other shareholders was reduced to 1 percent. Control of AJL's assets was transferred to YI's beneficial owners.

The ED filed the chargesheet after an extensive investigation into multiple pieces of evidence, statements of accused and witnesses, and money laundering.

The first accused in the case is Sonia Gandhi. The second accused is Rahul Gandhi, the third accused is Suman Dubey, and the fourth accused is Sam Pitroda. The fifth accused in the case is Young India. The sixth accused is Messrs. Dotex Merchandise Private Limited. The seventh accused is Sunil Bhandari.