New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday launched a search operation at multiple locations in Delhi and other places in the alleged National Herald money laundering case. One of the searches was also conducted at the Congress-owned National Herald newspaper office, days after Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi's questioning.
The National Herald case pertains to investigating the alleged financial irregularities under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), which was registered about nine months ago after a trial court took cognizance of the 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.
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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), which Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi owned 38 per cent shares each.
The YIL promoters include Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. 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. (With Agency Inputs)
