Hearing in National Herald case deferred to May 21, 22
NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Thursday deferred the hearing in the National Herald money laundering case involving senior Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.
The matter will now be heard on May 21 and 22. Special Judge Vishal Gogne deferred the hearing after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) informed the court that co-accused Sam Pitroda was only served notice via email earlier that day.
The judge said it would be more appropriate to hear arguments on whether to take cognisance of the chargesheet on the next date. The court also decided to first consider the ED’s stand before addressing BJP leader Subramanian Swamy’s request for a copy of the chargesheet. Swamy is the original complainant in the case.
Earlier on May 2, the court had issued notices to former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and Congress leaders Sam Pitroda and Suman Dubey. Notices were also sent to the company “Young Indian”, Dotex Merchandise Pvt Ltd, and Sunil Bhandari. Judge Gogne said that all those named had a “right to be heard” at the stage when the court considers whether to take cognisance of the chargesheet. “Right to be heard at any stage breathes life into fair trial,” he said while listing the matter for May 8.
The chargesheet was filed under Sections 3 and 4 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), which relate to committing and being punished for money laundering.
The ED began its investigation in 2021 after a magistrate took cognisance of Swamy’s private complaint filed back in June 2014. Swamy alleged that top Congress leaders conspired to illegally take control of properties worth over `2,000 crore that belonged to Associated Journals Limited, the publisher of the National Herald newspaper.
According to the ED, the alleged money laundering was linked to the takeover of these assets through a company called Young Indian. Sonia and Rahul Gandhi are majority shareholders in Young Indian, each holding a 38 per cent stake. Both were questioned for several hours by the ED in past years in connection with the case.