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ED’s Herald case is politically motivated, says Cong lawyer
Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing on behalf of Sonia Gandhi, argued that the ED could not have a speculative case
Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s lawyer told a Delhi court that the Enforcement Directorate’s case against her was politically motivated, and that instead of the assets of The Associated Journals Limited (AJL) — which ran National Herald newspaper — being illegally acquired by Young Indian (YI), of which 76% is owned by her and her son and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, only shares were transferred, constituting no money laundering.
These submissions were made on Friday by Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing on behalf of Sonia Gandhi, before Special Judge Vishal Gogne, who has been presiding over arguments on cognisance in the ED’s chargesheet in the National Herald money laundering probe against Sonia and Rahul Gandhi and others.
“In this case, politics is becoming uppermost and law is becoming last…YI acquired AJL only to make it debt free, something that all corporates do…it’s a case of political overdose,” he argued.
Singhvi submitted that contrary to any asset of AJL being illicitly acquired by YI, as being claimed by the federal agency, “not one of those properties have moved ownership by one inch”.
The counsel argued, “AJL has had those properties since time immemorial…the only change is that the debt has been assigned to a newly formed company called Young Indian”.
Singhvi said that YI was registered as a not-for-profit organisation, meaning it could not pay salaries or bonuses like any other corporate entity, to its stakeholders.
He submitted, “Any investment made goes back to the company and no one gets any profit…there cannot be any anticipatory money-laundering. ED will move for arresting if and when a company liquidated and the properties are distributed”.
Singhvi further argued that the ED could not have a speculative case. “There is nothing in law that shows that the shareholder, which YI was, has any say in the property of AJL, except only (owning) the shares…this Alice in Wonderland becomes stranger and stranger.
The counsel also raised a question on why ED suddenly started an inquiry only in 2021 despite eight years having passed since the initial complaint of corruption filed by Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramaniam Swamy.
Arguing on the legality of the case, Singhvi said that ED’s prosecution complaint (charge sheet) was not maintainable as neither was there a separate FIR in the matter nor was there a complaint by any person authorised to investigate the offence of money laundering as per the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering (PMLA) Act.
He argued, “The foundational instrument which will create the basis for the launch of investigation has to come from an authorised person…they (ED) want to create a screen between a trigger-happy complaint and the entire ED machinery falling into place”.
“There has never been a single instance in its (EDs) history where they have picked up a case which is without an investigating officer (IO)…Dr. Swamy is not the person authorised to investigate the incident…ED cannot simply pick up a private complaint where there are thousand others,” argued the senior advocate.
In the previous hearing, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, on behalf of ED, submitted that Sonia and Rahul Gandhi used their firm Young Indian as a vehicle for acquiring Associate Journals Limited (AJL), causing huge losses to several shareholders.
The agency’s claim is that the Gandhis acquired beneficial ownership of the assets of the party-run newspaper National Herald’s parent company Associated Journals Limited (AJL), worth ₹2,000 crore, for a mere ₹50 lakh that was paid to the Congress Party in lieu of loans of around ₹90 crore that the party had extended to AJL.
The agency, in its charge sheet filed on April 9 against Sonia and Rahul Gandhi further claimed to have identified proceeds of crime worth ₹988 crore in the case.
Besides the Gandhis, ED has also named overseas Congress head Sam Pitroda and former journalist Suman Dubey in the charge sheet, along with the Young Indian Private Limited (YI) .
