Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi have got major legal relief in the National Herald money laundering case. Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court on Tuesday (December 16) refused to take cognizance of the charge sheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The court said that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) complaint is not maintainable under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) as the case is not based on an FIR but on a personal complaint.
Special Judge (PC Act) Vishal Gogane said in the order that the basis on which the ED has filed the complaint is not sustainable in law. According to the court, the prescribed procedure for action under PMLA was not followed as the original case did not arise from any registered FIR. Apart from Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, ED had also made Suman Dubey, Sam Pitroda, Young Indian, Dotex Merchandise and Sunil Bhandari accused in this case. After this decision of the court, the entire ED case has suffered a setback.
However, ED is preparing to appeal against this order. Sources have told the media that the legal team of the Enforcement Directorate is studying the detailed judgment of the Rouse Avenue Court and will then decide on filing an appeal. ED believes that this was not an ordinary personal complaint, but a case in which cognizance of the crime had already been taken. It is also being said that the court may have ignored some relevant paragraphs of the Supreme Court’s Vijay Madanlal Chaudhary decision.
Meanwhile, Congress MP and senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi welcomed the verdict, saying, “When I started arguing in this case, I had told the court that this is a very strange case, there is neither a millimeter of movement of money nor a millimeter of transfer of any immovable property. All the properties are with AJL and yet there is talk of money laundering. AJL is now 90 per cent owned by another company, Young India.” This is all that has happened. This matter is not worth taking cognizance of, but the kind of hullabaloo created by the BJP is completely based on exaggeration.”
Let us tell you that in the National Herald case, it is alleged that in 2012, the assets and shares of Associate General Limited Company, the owner of National Herald newspaper, were transferred to a private company called Young India Private Limited, in which Rahul and Sonia Gandhi are the main investors. Reportedly, this transfer was done without the rules of law and without the permission of the shareholders, resulting in public and party assets going into private hands.
Originally, the National Herald newspaper was a prestigious media project of the Congress, created to disseminate independent news and party views, with the shares of Herald Media and Properties Limited, established in 1938, being operated under the control of the Congress and its leaders.
Sonia and Rahul Gandhi have got a big relief for the time being from the decision of Rouse Avenue Court, although the possible appeal of ED makes it clear that this matter is not yet legally over. The possibility of challenging this decision in higher courts in the coming days cannot be ruled out.
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