National Herald Case: ED Summons Congress President Sonia Gandhi On June 23

Sonia Gandhi Summoned: The ED had also summoned her son and former party chief Rahul Gandhi on June 13 for questioning in the case.

Congress leader Sonia Gandhi at her residence in Delhi (Source: Getty)

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED), probing allegations of money laundering in the National Herald case, has again issued summons to Congress leader Sonia Gandhi on Friday. The ED has now called her for questioning on June 23. Sonia Gandhi had sought three weeks' time to appear before the ED after being infected with the coronavirus. Earlier, the ED had called Sonia for questioning on June 8, but before that she had become coronavirus infected.

National herald case | ED summons Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi, asking her to join the investigation on June 23rd.

(File photo) pic.twitter.com/tLvobH3muv

— ANI (@ANI) June 10, 2022

In the same case, the Enforcement Directorate also issued summons to former Congress President Rahul Gandhi. The investigating agency has called Rahul Gandhi for questioning on June 13. After the summons was issued by the agency, Congress leaders accused the central government of misusing the government agencies.

He was earlier asked by the agency to depose on June 2 but the Lok Sabha member from Wayanad constituency in Kerala sought a fresh date as he was out of country. The federal agency later asked Rahul Gandhi to appear on June 13 at its headquarters in central Delhi.

Case against Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi

The case pertains to the probe into the alleged financial irregularities in the party-promoted Young Indian that owns the National Herald newspaper. The paper is published by Associated Journals Limited (AJL) and owned by Young Indian Pvt Limited.

Officials said the agency wants to record the statements of Rahul and Sonia Gandhi under criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The questioning of the senior Congress leaders and the Gandhis is part of the ED's investigation to understand the shareholding pattern, financial transactions and role of the promoters of Young Indian and AJL, officials had said.

The members of the first family of the Congress party, including Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, are among the promoters and shareholders of Young Indian.

The probe agency had registered a fresh case under the criminal provisions of the PMLA after a trial court here took cognizance of an Income Tax Department probe against Young Indian Pvt Ltd on the basis of a private criminal complaint filed by BJP MP Subramanian Swamy in 2013.

Swamy had accused Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and others of conspiring to cheat and misappropriate funds with Young Indian Pvt Ltd paying only Rs 50 lakh to obtain the right to recover Rs 90.25 crore that Associate Journals Ltd owed to the Congress.

The ED summons triggered furious reactions from the Congress, which alleged that the "fake issue of AJL, (Associated Journals Limited) is an attempt by BJP's propaganda machinery to deviate, divert and digress the attention of citizens from the multifarious vital issues of inflation, falling GDP and social unrest, social divisiveness in this country".