Congress-linked National Herald newspaper case: Day-to-day hearing from July 2 to 8
money laundering
case filed by ED against senior Congress leaders
Sonia Gandhi
,
Rahul Gandhi
and others for their alleged involvement in Congress-linked National Herald newspaper case.
The court said that the day-to-day hearing will take place from July 2 to 8. Counsel representing the Gandhis on Tuesday sought more time to peruse the voluminous case records. The ED counsel argued in support of its prosecution complaint (equivalent to charge sheet) against the Gandhis and others last month. The court also posed pointed queries to the agency.
Special judge Vishal Gogne sought clarity on the ownership of AJL's assets, specifically whether the company's shareholders could be considered its owners. The court asked ED's counsel: "Are assets owned by the company or shareholders? Who owns the property as of today?"
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The court remarked: "In simple words, if the property of A is usurped by B, does it become proceeds of crime when it was clean in the hands of A." It asked: "Are wrongful acts ascribed to individuals but not parties (Congress)? Or is the party a victim?" In response, the ED counsel said "the donors of the party are victims". The counsel argued that donations and membership fees were collected from the public for party purposes, but were instead diverted as a loan to a company engaged in commercial activities.
The ED counsel further argued that Young Indian was formed as a sham entity, "a cloak to convert public money to personal use" and used as a special purpose vehicle to gain control over assets of AJL worth ₹2,000 crore. The agency further alleged that the accused acted in "consortium with each other to achieve the said nefarious purpose". The agency claimed the alleged proceeds of crime included rental income worth ₹142 crore received by the accused.
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