National Herald Case: Sonia Gandhi To Appear Before ED Today, Congress To Stage Massive Protests

The ED wants to record Sonia Gandhi's statements under criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in connection with a money laundering case involving the National Herald.

New Delhi: Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi is slated to appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday in the National Herald case. The Congress party will stage protests across the country against the BJP-led Union government in support of Sonia Gandhi. 

ANI reported official sources as stating that Sonia Gandhi has been asked to depose before the investigators at the party headquarters in Delhi around 11 am on Thursday. The fresh summon was issued as the Congress chief could not join the ED investigation in the case due to COVID-19.

The agency had previously issued similar summons to Sonia Gandhi as she did not appear before the investigators on June 8 and then on June 21 due to COVID-19. The Congress leader had developed a mild fever on June 1 evening and was found COVID-19 positive upon testing the next morning. 

As per sources, Sonia Gandhi will be quizzed in three phases and the inquiry will be led by ED Additional Director Monika Sharma.

In the first phase, the Congress President will be asked some personal questions, following which, she will be asked about Young Indian Pvt Limited (YIL).

The questions about Associated Journals Limited (AJL) and the Congress will be put up in the second phase. Following Sonia Gandhi's request, she will be given some time to rest between the three-phase questioning.

Congress Protest To Protest At ED Office, Likely To Demonstrate In Parliament

The Congress will hold protests across the country as it has termed the Enforcement Directorate's action against its top leadership as "political vendetta".

Similar protests were held when her son and former party president Rahul Gandhi was quizzed by the agency in June in the case.

News Agency PTI reported sources as saying that party leaders including MPs will march towards the Enforcement Directorate office and the Delhi Congress will stage a protest march outside Raj Bhawan.

A meeting of senior party leaders was held at the residence of Mallikarjun Kharge to decide upon the party's strategy for dealing with the "misuse" of the ED against party chief Sonia Gandhi by the Modi government, they said.

"The entire Congress family is standing firmly with its President Sonia Gandhi and tomorrow a protest against the dictatorial rule of BJP will be lodged in the whole country," the party stated on its Twitter handle.

Congress leaders and workers will also be staging such protests outside offices of the Enforcement Directorate in different state capitals, PTI sources said.

According to them, the Congress may also stage a protest along with leaders of other opposition parties inside the Parliament complex. Congress members in both houses may also protest inside both houses of Parliament, PTI reported.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said that the entire Congress party will demonstrate across the country in "a most telling manner" against what he described as political vendetta.

"Tomorrow as the political vendetta unleashed by the Modi-Shah duo against our top leadership continues, the entire Congress party across the country will demonstrate its collective solidarity with Smt. Sonia Gandhi in a most telling manner," Ramesh said on Twitter.

National Herald Case

The ED wants to record Sonia Gandhi's statements under criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in connection with a money laundering case involving the National Herald. Last month, the ED questioned Rahul Gandhi on several occasions in the case. The case over alleged financial irregularities was registered about nine months ago after a trial court took cognisance of an Income Tax Department probe carried out on the basis of a private criminal complaint filed by former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Subramanian Swamy in 2013. 

Swamy had approached the court alleging that the assets of Associated Journals Limited (AJL), which published the National Herald newspaper, were fraudulently acquired and transferred to Young Indian Pvt Limited (YIL), in which Sonia Gandhi and her son owned 38 per cent shares each. The YIL promoters include Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. 

According to ANI, Swamy had alleged that the Gandhis cheated and misappropriated funds, with YIL paying only Rs 50 lakh to obtain the right to recover Rs 90.25 crore that AJL owed to the Congress. The Congress contended that YIL was a not-for-profit company under Section 25 of the Companies Act, 1956 that can neither accumulate profits nor pay dividends to its shareholders. 

Dubbing it a case of political vendetta, senior Supreme Court advocate and Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi had said, "This is truly a very weird case -- an alleged money laundering case on which summons are issued with no money involved." 

The federal agency's move followed the questioning of senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge and Congress Treasurer Pawan Bansal in April. The agency then recorded the statements of both the Congress leaders then under the PMLA. The National Herald is published by AJL and owned by YIL. While Kharge is the CEO of YIL, Bansal is the Managing Director of AJL. 

The ED is currently investigating the shareholding pattern and financial transactions along with the role of party functionaries in the functioning of AJL and YIL.

(With Agency Inputs)