COVID+ Sonia Gandhi sought fresh date to appear before ED; says ‘still recovering’
Premium- The ED had summoned Sonia Gandhi to appear before it on June 8 in connection with a money laundering case linked to the National Herald newspaper-AJL issue.
Sonia Gandhi has sought more time to appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) as she is still suffering from Covid. The ED had summoned Gandhi to appear before it on June 8 in connection with a money laundering case linked to the National Herald newspaper-AJL issue.
However, Gandhi, who tested positive on Thursday, is yet to recover and, hence, she urged ED to delay it. Congress leaders had earlier claimed that Sonia Gandhi is determined to appear before the ED provided she recovered from the virus.
The ED had also summoned her son Rahul Gandhi on June 13 for questioning in the case. The agency had asked him to depose on June 2. But since he was abroad, he sought a fresh date. ED later asked Rahul Gandhi to appear on June 13 at its headquarters in central Delhi.
ED to record statements of Sonia and Rahul Gandhi
The case related to the alleged financial irregularities in the party-promoted Young Indian that owns the National Herald newspaper. Officials said the agency wants to record the statements of Rahul and Sonia Gandhi under criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The questioning of the senior Congress leaders and the Gandhis is part of the ED's investigation to understand the shareholding pattern, financial transactions and role of the promoters of Young Indian and AJL, officials had said.
The members of the first family of the Congress party, including Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, are among the promoters and shareholders of Young Indian.
The probe agency had registered a fresh case under the criminal provisions of the PMLA after a trial court here took cognizance of an Income Tax Department probe against Young Indian Pvt Ltd on the basis of a private criminal complaint filed by BJP MP Subramanian Swamy in 2013.
Swamy had accused Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and others of conspiring to cheat and misappropriate funds with Young Indian Pvt Ltd paying only ₹50 lakh to obtain the right to recover ₹90.25 crore that Associate Journals Ltd owed to the Congress.