Sonia Gandhi 'abused' her position to benefit self, son in AJL takeover: ED in National Herald case

New Delhi: Congress leader Sonia Gandhi "abused" her position as the then AICC president for personal gains to herself and her son Rahul Gandhi by converting public money for self use through the Young Indian (YI) company, the ED is understood to have alleged in its chargesheet filed in the National Herald case.

Both the leaders, sources told PTI quoting the chargesheet, have told the federal probe agency during recording of their statements in this case a few years back that they were "not aware" about the activities taking place at the YI and the Associated Journals Limited (AJL).

They are understood to have told the agency that all these affairs were taken care of by late Congress leader Motilal Vora as he was "empowered" to deal with the administrative and financial matters.

The chargesheet was filed on April 9 and the local court is yet to take its cognisance.

The ED has named 78-year-old former Congress president and Rajya Sabha MP Sonia Gandhi as accused no 1 and her son Rahul Gandhi (54) as accused no 2, apart from five others in the prosecution complaint filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The National Herald-AJL-YI case pertains to an alleged conspiracy orchestrated to illegally obtain the underlying assets of the AJL by the beneficial owners and majority shareholders of YI (Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi).

AJL is the publisher of the National Herald news platform (newspaper and web portal) and is owned by Young Indian Private Limited.

The chargesheet is understood to have alleged that Sonia Gandhi "abused" her position as the then AICC President (2010-11) for "personal gain" of herself and her son Rahul Gandhi by "fraudulent" takeover of AJL by YI.

The ED has alleged that this "sham" transaction could not have been executed without her knowledge and active participation, being the President of the AICC and in-charge of affairs, according to sources who are in the know.

On Rahul Gandhi, the ED chargesheet is understood to have alleged that he along with other accused "cheated" the shareholders of AJL and donors of AICC.

He was "knowingly" a party and/or actually involved in the process and activity connected with the proceeds of crime including acquisition, possession, concealment and using the proceeds of crime that are worth Rs 988 crore in this case, it is alleged.

The Congress has described the ED's chargesheet against the Gandhis as vendetta politics.

The opposition party had claimed last month that the ED chargesheet was an attempt to divert attention from the economic crisis the country was facing. It said the case was nothing but political vendetta in legal disguise.

The ED is stated to have said that its probe found that office bearers of all AICC, AJL and YI "failed" to provide to it any documentary evidence regarding AJL's revival and instead attempted to put the onus of these activities on a deceased person (Vora).

This includes the statement of the current president, Mallikarjun Kharge, who said all decisions regarding AJL and YI were taken by the late leader.

The agency claimed these statements, including by the Gandhis, of putting the onus on Vora were "nothing but an attempt to mislead and divert the investigation".

Rahul Gandhi is understood to have informed the ED that he was never associated "in any way" with AJL and that neither was he a shareholder nor a director.

He told the ED that AJL's revival was testimony to the good work done by Vora in fulfilling his "constitutional duty" of reviving an institution of national importance.

The agency, the sources said, is understood to have said in its chargesheet that some senior Congress leaders, who were office bearers in YI under the "patronage" of the two Gandhis, "influenced" various people, including some party leaders, to arrange funds for YI in the "guise" of donations.

These funds were sought "in lieu of" "favours" promised to them and in exchange of cash from the AICC office, the ED is stated to have said.

The ED is also understood to have said in the chargesheet that family members and relatives of some of the donors either contested elections on Congress tickets or they were promised "some positions" in the political hierarchy.

The chargesheet mentions, as per the sources, that investigations into the case led to "one single" conclusion that the flow of funds in AJL and YI could not have taken place without the "active assistance" and "instructions" from senior Congress leaders and members of the Gandhi family.

According to the sources, the chargesheet claimed that the assignment of the loan to YI by AICC was nothing but a "sham" transaction executed to give ownership of the assets of AJL worth hundreds of crores of rupees to YI for a "paltry" sum of Rs 50 lakh by making YI the holding company of AJL.

For this, the sources said, the co-conspirators were "strategically" placed in all three entities (AICC-AJL-YI) that initiated the process.

The ED appended various statements of donors, including that of Amit Deshmukh, son of late Congress leader and former Maharashtra CM Vilasrao Deshmukh, where he said that his sugar company gave two advertisements worth Rs 18 lakh to National Herald on the directions of Vora.

One advertisement out of this was meant for the AICC plenary session that was to be held in 2018 in Delhi (Rs 12 lakh) and the other to convey birthday wishes to Sonia Gandhi in the same year (Rs 6 lakh).

The ED also said that a crucial decision of vesting 99 per cent shareholding of AJL with YI was taken by only seven members out of the total 1,089 shareholders in January 2011, and no "reasonable efforts" were made to call a majority of shareholders of AJL for the extraordinary general meeting (EGM).