The Enforcement Directorate has summoned Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi in connection with a money laundering case filed in the National Herald matter.
While Sonia Gandhi (75) has been asked to depose before the federal agency on June 8, Rahul Gandhi is understood to have been asked to appear earlier.
The Congress held a special press briefing on the matter on Wednesday afternoon. Congress leader and lawyer Abhishek Singhvi said “We won't bow down,” on the charges. Singhvi argued the Enforcement Directorate had closed the case in 2015. He alleged the Narendra Modi government was unhappy with the ED decision and had appointed new officials to register a new case. Referring to the allegations against Sonia and Rahul, Singhvi said “All companies do improve balance sheet by turning loans into equities,” Hindustan Times reported.
Randeep Singh Surjewala, Congress spokesperson, said the party “Started the National Herald newspaper in 1942, at that time the British tried to suppress it; today, Modi government is also doing the same and ED is being used for this”.
The party declared its leaders “have nothing to hide. We are fully complying with the authorities”, NDTV reported. The Congress accused the Modi government of using “puppet agencies” to intimidate its rivals.
The Times of India reported “In 2012, Subramanian Swamy had filed a case accusing Sonia, Rahul and the others—Motilal Vora, Oscar Fernandes, Suman Dubey and Sam Pitroda—of cheating and misappropriation of funds in acquiring the ownership of now-defunct daily, National Herald. The National Herald newspaper, founded by Jawaharlal Nehru, was closely associated with India's freedom struggle and the Indian National Congress until 2008. On April 1, 2008, the paper's editorial announced that it was temporarily suspending its operations.”
