The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday attached assets worth Rs 751.9 crore belonging to Associated Journals as part of its money laundering probe into the National Herald case.
“ED has issued an order to provisionally attach properties worth Rs. 751.9 Crore in a money-laundering case investigated under the PMLA, 2002. Investigation revealed that M/s. Associated Journals Ltd. (AJL) is in possession of proceeds of crime in the form of immovable properties spread across many cities of India such as Delhi, Mumbai and Lucknow to the tune of Rs. 661.69 Crore and M/s. Young Indian (YI) is in possession of proceeds of crime to the tune of Rs. 90.21 Crore in the form of investment in equity shares of AJL,” ED said on micro-blogging site X.
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ED has issued an order to provisionally attach properties worth Rs. 751.9 Crore in a money-laundering case investigated under the PMLA, 2002.
“Investigation revealed that M/s. Associated Journals Ltd. (AJL) is in possession of proceeds of crime in the form of immovable properties…,” it said.
A provisional order has been issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act against the newspaper’s publisher Associated Journals Ltd. and its holding company Young Indian, the statement added.
The case is based on a private complaint by BJP’s Subramanian Swamy in a Delhi court in 2013. The complaint had alleged cheating and misappropriation of funds on part of the Gandhis in acquiring the newspaper. Sonia and Rahul were granted bail in the case by the trial court in December 2015.
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Swamy’s complaint accused Sonia, Rahul and others of misappropriating funds by allegedly paying Rs 50 lakh for Young Indian to obtain the right to recover Rs 90.25 crore that AJL owed to the Congress.
The ED has already questioned and recorded the statements of Congress’s Sonia Gandhi, her son Rahul Gandhi and president Mallikarjun Kharge in this case.
