ED issues fresh summons to Sonia Gandhi for probe
NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday issued fresh summons to Congress president Sonia Gandhi to appear before it on June 23 for questioning in a money laundering case linked to the National Herald newspaper.
Sonia was earlier asked to join the probe on June 8.
The summons were renewed after the Congress chief said she was infected with Covid-19 and sought a fresh date from the central agency.
Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala on June 2 said the party president has tested positive for the virus.
Sonia’s son, Rahul, who has also been summoned in the same case, is expected to appear for a probe on Monday.
While Rahul was also asked to appear on June 2, the Congress MP from Wayanad had sought a fresh date as he was out of India. The Congress, which has termed the summons to the Gandhis as “misuse of agencies by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah”, has planned to hold a protest outside the ED office on Monday, people familiar with the matter said.
The party has ruled out any fraud and alleged that the summon was a political ploy to divert attention from inflation.
The case relates to alleged financial irregularities in the party-promoted Young Indian, which owns the National Herald newspaper.
The agency registered a new case under the criminal provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after a trial court in Delhi took cognisance of an Income Tax department investigation into Young Indian Pvt Ltd on the basis of a private criminal complaint filed by BJP MP Subramanian Swamy in 2013.
In his complaint, Swamy accused Sonia, Rahul and others in the party of conspiring to cheat and misappropriate funds after Young Indian Pvt Ltd allegedly paid only ₹50 lakh to obtain the right to recover ₹90.25 crore that Associate Journals Ltd, the publisher of National Herald, owed to the Congress.
In April, the agency questioned senior Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Pawan Bansal as part of the investigation.
After the central agency examined Kharge, the Congress’s whip in Lok Sabha Manickam Tagore accused the government of “harassing” him.
The Delhi high court in February last year had issued a notice to the Gandhis, seeking their response to Swamy’s plea seeking to lead evidence in the matter before the trial court.
The Gandhi’s had secured bail from the court in 2015 after they furnished personal bonds of ₹50,000 and one surety.
In the high court, the Gandhis contended that the plea by Swamy was “misconceived and premature”.
Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi had alleged that the central agency had earlier closed the case, but new officials were brought into the agency to revive the matter.
The opposition’s allegation was dismissed by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).