New Delhi, June 10
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has issued fresh summons to Congress President Sonia Gandhi to appear on June 23 for questioning in a money laundering case related to the National Herald newspaper. Officials gave this information on Friday.
Gandhi, 75, was earlier asked to appear on June 8, but he sought a new date from the Federal Investigation Agency after he contracted the coronavirus infection.
Officials said Gandhi has been given a fresh date of June 23 to appear before the Enforcement Directorate in Delhi, where his statement will be recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
His son and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi is also likely to be questioned on June 13 in the same case.
The Lok Sabha member from Wayanad was earlier summoned on June 2, but being abroad asked for a new date, the ED issued a fresh notice for June 13.
The opposition party has decided that all its top leaders and MPs will take out a protest march to the ED headquarters here on June 13 and hold a “satyagraha” against the “misuse” of the party by the central government.
The probe pertains to alleged financial irregularities in the party-promoted Young Indian, which owns the National Herald newspaper.
National Herald is published by Associated Journals Limited (AJL) and owned by Young Indian Private Limited.
The agency had questioned senior Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Pawan Bansal in April as part of the probe.
Officials had said that the questioning of senior Congress leaders and the Gandhi family is part of the ED’s probe to understand the shareholding pattern, financial transactions and role of promoters of Young Indian and AJL.
The ED had recently registered a fresh case under criminal provisions of the PMLA after a trial court here ordered an Income Tax Department investigation against Young Indian Pvt Ltd on the basis of a private criminal complaint filed by BJP MP Subramanian Swamy in 2013. had taken cognizance of.
The Congress party had termed the ED’s action as ‘vendetta’.
The Congress termed the allegations as “fake and baseless” and said the summons to the Gandhi family was part of the BJP’s “vendetta politics”.
Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are among the promoters and shareholders of Young Indian.
Swamy had accused Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and others of conspiracy to commit fraud and misappropriation of funds, Young Indian Pvt Ltd had paid only Rs 50 lakh to obtain the right to recover Rs 90.25 crore, which That Associate Journals Limited had given to Congress.
The Delhi High Court had in February last year issued notice to the Gandhi family on Swamy’s plea, seeking to produce evidence in the case in the trial court.
The Gandhi family had secured separate bail in 2015 after furnishing a personal bond of Rs 50,000 and one surety.
However, he argued in the Delhi High Court that Swamy’s plea was “wrong and premature”.
The other accused in the case filed by Swamy are Suman Dubey and technocrat Sam Pitroda. They have previously denied any wrongdoing.