ED: Sonia ‘abused’ her position to benefit self, son in AJL takeover
New Delhi: Congress leader Sonia Gandhi “abused” her position as the then AICC president for personal gains to herself and her son Rahul Gandhi by converting public money for self use through the Young Indian (YI) company, the ED is understood to have alleged in its chargesheet filed in the National Herald case.
Both the leaders, sources told news agency quoting the chargesheet, have told the federal probe agency during recording of their statements in this case a few years back that they were “not aware” about the activities taking place at the YI and the Associated Journals Limited (AJL).
They are understood to have told the agency that all these affairs were taken care of by late Congress leader Motilal Vora as he was “empowered” to deal with the administrative and financial matters.
The chargesheet was filed on April 9 and the local court is yet to take its cognisance.
The ED has named 78-year-old former Congress president and Rajya Sabha MP Sonia Gandhi as accused no 1 and her son Rahul Gandhi (54) as accused no 2, apart from five others in the prosecution complaint filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The National Herald-AJL-YI case pertains to an alleged conspiracy orchestrated to illegally obtain the underlying assets of the AJL by the beneficial owners and majority shareholders of YI (Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi).
AJL is the publisher of the National Herald news platform (newspaper and web portal) and is owned by Young Indian Private Limited.
The chargesheet is understood to have alleged that Sonia Gandhi “abused” her position as the then AICC President (2010-11) for “personal gain” of herself and her son Rahul Gandhi by “fraudulent” takeover of AJL by YI.
The ED has alleged that this “sham” transaction could not have been executed without her knowledge and active participation,
being the President of the AICC and in-charge of affairs, according to sources who are in the know.
On Rahul Gandhi, the ED chargesheet is understood to have alleged that he along with other accused “cheated” the shareholders of AJL and donors of AICC.
