National Herald case: ED issues notices to take possession of Delhi, Mumbai, and Lucknow buildings

ED moves to seize Rs.661 cr immovable assets of Congress-controlled AJL

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) Saturday said it has served notices to take possession of immovable assets worth Rs.661 crore that it had attached as part of a money laundering probe linked to Congress-controlled National Herald newspaper and the Associated Journals Limited (AJL). The ED said in a statement that it has served the relevant documents to the respective registrar of properties where the assets are located.

Simultaneously, the notices have been affixed at “conspicuous part of these properties” located at Herald House at ITO (5A, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg) in Delhi, in the Bandra (E) area (Plot No 2, Survey No 341) of Mumbai and the AJL building located at Bisheshwar Nath Road (Property No.1) in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, on Friday. The notices primarily seek the vacation of the premises to be taken over by the ED.

“A notice… Has also been served to Jindal South West Projects Limited, which occupies the 7th, 8th, and 9th floors at Herald House, Bandra (E), Mumbai, to transfer the rent/lease amount every month in favour of the director, Directorate of Enforcement,” it said. ED initiated a money laundering case against Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi after the Court issued summons to them in the petition filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, who charged the Congress leaders for usurping the assets of the National Herald newspaper by floating a private firm, Young Indian.

Young Indian is a private limited company where Sonia and Rahul have 38%. Young Indian in 2010 acquired 99.9% of the shares of Associated Journals Limited, publisher of National Herald newspaper, having properties across India. Subramanian Swamy charged Sonia and Rahul for floating a shell firm Young Indian to acquire the assets of AJL in dubious ways. ED had interrogated Sonia and Rahul for five days each in 2022.

The action has been taken under Section (8) and Rule 5(1) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) that talks about the procedure of taking possession of assets attached by the ED and then confirmed by the adjudicating authority (of the PMLA). These immovable assets worth Rs.661 crore, apart from shares of AJL worth Rs.90.2 crore, were attached by the ED in November 2023 to “secure the proceeds of crime and to prevent the accused from dissipating the same.” The Adjudicating Authority confirmed this order in April last year. According to the ED, the total “proceeds of crime” in the case was Rs 988 crore.

The Congress had earlier termed the investigation “petty vendetta tactics” and dubbed the ED a “coalition partner” of the BJP. The ED investigation began in 2021 after the Metropolitan Magistrate at Patiala House Courts in Delhi took cognizance of a private complaint filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy on June 26, 2014.

The complaint, the ED said, highlighted a “criminal conspiracy” by several prominent political figures, including the first family of the Congress party led by Sonia Gandhi, her MP son Rahul Gandhi, apart from late Congress leaders Motilal Vora and Oscar Fernandes and also Suman Dubey, Sam Pitroda and a private company Young Indian for alleged involvement in a money laundering scheme related to the fraudulent takeover of properties valued over Rs.2,000 crore belonging to the AJL.

“The legal proceedings against the accused have faced challenges but have been upheld by both the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court of India, allowing the investigation to proceed,” the ED said.

The ED claimed its investigation has “conclusively” found that Young Indian, a private company “beneficially owned” by Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, “acquired” AJL properties worth Rs.2,000 crore for a mere Rs.50 lakh, significantly undervaluing its worth. “Young Indian and AJL properties were used for the generation of further proceeds of crime in the form of bogus donations to the tune of Rs.18 crore, bogus advance rent to the tune of Rs.38 crore, and bogus advertisements of Rs.29 crore,” the ED has alleged.

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