ED attaches assets worth Rs 752 crore in probe against Congress’s National Herald

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached properties worth Rs 751.90 crore as part of its investigation in a money laundering case against Congress-promoted National Herald newspaper and the companies linked to it, the agency said on Tuesday.

The National Herald is published by Associated Journals Ltd and owned by Young Indian Private Limited. 

Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are majority shareholders of Young Indian with 38 per cent shares held by each one of them.

The central agency claimed that a provisional order has been issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against the AJL and Young Indian.

"Investigation revealed that Associated Journals Ltd (AJL) is in possession of proceeds of crime in the form of immovable properties spread across many cities of India such as Delhi, Mumbai and Lucknow to the tune of Rs 661.69 crore and Young Indian (YI) is in possession of proceeds of crime to the tune of Rs 90.21 crore in the form of investment in equity shares of AJL," the ED said in a statement.

The agency had earlier recorded the statements of Sonia, Rahul, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, party leader Pawan Bansal and Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar as part of the probe.

It may be noted that the ED move came amid the ongoing assembly elections in five states including Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh where the Congress party is in direct fight with the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Responding to the central agency’s action on Tuesday, the grand old party said such "petty vendetta tactics" cannot frighten it.

"No BJP coalition partner - CBI, ED or I-T Department - can prevent the impending defeat of the BJP.... These petty vendetta tactics shall not frighten the Indian National Congress in any way," party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said in a statement.

The ED launched its investigation on the basis of an order issued by Delhi’s Metropolitan Magistrate Court that took cognisance of a private complaint against alleged irregularities in the National Herald's affairs on June 26, 2014.

The court had held that seven accused persons including the Young India had prima facie committed offences of criminal breach of trust (under Section 406 of IPC), cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property (under Section 420), dishonest misappropriation of property (under Section 403) and criminal conspiracy (under Section 120B), the agency said.

The court had held that the accused persons hatched a criminal conspiracy to acquire properties worth hundreds of crores of the AJL through a special purpose vehicle—the Young Indian. 

“M/s AJL was given land on concessional rates in various cities of India for the purpose of publishing newspapers. AJL closed its publishing operations in 2008 and started using the properties for commercial purposes,” the ED said.

It said the AJL had to repay a loan of Rs 90.21 crore to All India Congress Committee (AICC). However, the AICC treated the said loan as non-recoverable from the AJL and sold it for Rs 50 lakh to a newly incorporated company, Young Indian. 

“By their action, the shareholders of AJL as well as donors of Congress Party were cheated by the office bearers of AJL and Congress Party,” the agency claimed in its statement.

The ED further claimed that after purchasing the loan of Rs 90.21 crore from the AICC, the Young Indian demanded either repayment of loan or allotment of equity shares of the AJL to it. AJL held an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) and passed a resolution to increase share capital and issue fresh shares worth Rs 90.21 crore to the Young Indian. 

“With this fresh allotment of shares, shareholding of more than 1,000 shareholders was reduced to a mere 1 per cent and AJL became subsidiary company of YI. YI also took control over properties of AJL,” it said.