New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate on Monday questioned former Congress President Rahul Gandhi in the National Herald case. The ED had also summoned Congress's acting president Sonia Gandhi in this case, but as she has tested Corona positive, she was not available for questioning. The case dates back to 2012 when BJP leader Subramanian Swamy filed a lawsuit alleging wrongful acquisition of the National Herald, the newspaper published by the company Associated Journals Limited (AJL) founded by the first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in 1937 in which 5,000 other freedom fighters were shareholders.
Besides National Herald, AJL used to publish newspapers named Qaumi Awaaz in Urdu and Navjeevan in Hindi till 2008. The company got land from governments in many cities at affordable prices. As per reports, Associated Journal Limited had 1,057 shareholders as of 2010. However the downfall started in 2008 when the company declared losses and ceased publication of all newspapers.
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Swamy alleged that Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi “wrongfully” acquired AJL after settling the Rs 90 crore of its liabilities through a “fake company” called Young India Company, which was formed on February 26, 2011 with Rs 50 lakh. Sonia and Rahul hold 38-38 per cent stake in Young India Company while late Congress leaders Motilal Vora and Oscar Fernandez held the remaining 24 per cent.
According to Swamy, Young India Company got nine crore shares of Rs 10 each of AJL accounting for 99 per cent shares after Congress waived the loan of Rs 90 crore to AJL. After the deal, in 2012, Subramanian Swamy filed a lawsuit alleging the wrongful acquisition of the National Herald. Swamy alleged that through the acquisition of the property, including the building of Herald House at Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg in Delhi, worth Rs 2,000 crore, was encroached upon.
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After the Narendra Modi-led BJP government came to power in 2014, the case came back to the limelight with the Enforcement Directorate taking up the probe. In June 2014, based on Subramanian Swamy's petition, the court issued summons against Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. In August that year, the ED also registered a case of money laundering. Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi were granted bail in the case in 2015. In 2016, the Supreme Court also exempted all the accused from appearing in the court. Motilal Vora, Oscar Fernandez, Sam Pitroda and Suman Dubey are also named in this case.
