Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy on Thursday alleged that Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi have “fraudulently acquired properties of Associated Journals Private Ltd (AJPL) in Delhi, UP and other places worth Rs 1,600 crore”.
Addressing a press conference, Swamy said: “Sonia and Rahul had floated a private company called Young Indian, each holding 38 percent shares. This company acquired (AJPL), thus became the owner publisher of National Herald and Quami Awaz newspapers and all the high value real estate properties in Delhi and other places.”
Deccan Herald has not independently verified these allegations. Rahul Gandhi denied the charges saying they were baseless, false and defamatory.
Swamy alleged that public money was used to finance the private company and acquiring
AJPL. He alleged that the AICC gave an unsecured loan of over Rs 90 crore to AJPL, which, Swamy claimed, was illegal under Income Tax Act since a political party cannot lend for commercial purposes.
He also alleged that the loan due to the AICC was written off by Young Indian for a mere Rs 50 Lakh by a board resolution and “AJPL was sold by transfer of shares to Young Indian” in 2011.
Swamy also claimed that “the meeting of Young Indian shareholders took place at Sonia Gandhi’s, government allotted 10 Janpath residence”, which is violation of the law.
He said that the deal between Young Indian and AJPL is “sham and bogus” which has been done in violation of several laws.Swamy has also written a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh “urging him to immediately institute a CBI probe into the Young Indian-AJPL deal.”
The Janata Party president also accused Rahul Gandhi of concealing details about this company in his affidavit to the Election Commission while filing his nomination for the 2008 Lok Sabha elections.
In his rebuttal, Rahul, in a letter to Swamy said: "We are committed to pursuing all legal actions against the scandalous abuse evident in your so-called press conference. Please be informed that we shall pursue the legal remedies open to us against the utterly motivated and irresponsible contents of your press conference.”
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