The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday told a Delhi court that Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi hatched a conspiracy to siphon off ₹2,000 crore worth of assets of the Associated Journals Limited (AJL).
AJL is owned by Young Indian Pvt Ltd and used to publish the now-defunct National Herald, a newspaper founded by former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju, who represents the ED in the case, said AJL owns properties in Delhi, Lucknow, Patna, Bhopal, Indore, Panchkular and other places. These properties were reportedly provided by the central and state governments for the publishing of the newspaper.
However, Raju claimed that after acquiring AJL, Gandhi family-owned Young Indian decided not to go ahead with the publishing of National Herald. Sonia and Rahul, who have a majority stake of 76 per cent shares in Young Indian, allegedly wanted to siphon off the AJL assets worth ₹2,000 crore in exchange for a ₹90 crore loan obtained from Congress, according to the ED.
"AJL was not making a profit, but it had large assets (₹2,000 crore). They were finding it difficult to manage their daily affairs. Thus, a ₹90 crore loan was taken from the Congress," the ASG alleged.
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Claiming that the Congress plotted to usurp AJL, Raju alleged, "The conspiracy was the creation of Young Indian to siphon off ₹2,000 crore in exchange for a ₹90 crore loan. Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi wanted to take over this company."
Besides Sonia and Rahul, the chargesheet submitted in April named Sam Pitroda and Suman Dubey as the accused.