SOURCES of Enforcement Directorate on Saturday said that neither Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi, party MP Rahul Gandhi nor other Congress leaders who were questioned in the National Herald case submitted any documents to substantiate the claims that financial decisions were taken by the party’s former treasurer Motilal Vora. ED sources said that both Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi had named the Congress party’s longest-serving treasurer as having taken the decision of share transfer of Associate Journal Private Limited (AJL) to Young Indian Private Limited (YIL). Motilal Vora had passed away at the age of 93 on 21 December 2020.

 

Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday sealed the premises of Young Indian office at the National Herald House building in the national capital as part of its investigation with the National Herald case in which top Congress leaders are accused of violating norms. The National Herald case pertains to the alleged financial irregularities under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and 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.

 

The petitioner 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 Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi owned 38 per cent shares each. 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 Congress. “Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi had deflected the blame on Motilal Vora during questioning,” ED sources said.