The complaint, the ED said, highlighted a “criminal conspiracy” by several prominent political figures, including the Sonia Gandhi and her 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.AJL is the publisher of the National Herald news platform (newspaper and web portal) and it is owned by Young Indian Private Limited.Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are majority shareholders of Young Indian with 38 per cent shares held by each of them. They were questioned for hours by the ED in this case a few years back.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 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.
Source link
