New Delhi: Congress leader Sonia Gandhi “abused” her position as the then AICC president for personal gains to herself and her son Rahul Gandhi by converting public money for self use through the Young Indian (YI) company, the ED is understood to have alleged in its chargesheet filed in the National Herald case.
Both the leaders, sources told PTI quoting the chargesheet, have told the federal probe agency during recording of their statements in this case a few years back that they were “not aware” about the activities taking place at the YI and the Associated Journals Limited (AJL).
They are understood to have told the agency that all these affairs were taken care of by late Congress leader Motilal Vora as he was “empowered” to deal with the administrative and financial matters.
The charges were filed under various sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) before the court of special judge Vishal Gogne.
The chargesheet also names Congress associates Suman Dubey and Sam Pitroda, the companies Young Indian and Dotex Merchandise Private Limited, and Sunil Bhandari of Dotex Merchandise as accused.
The ED has invoked sections 44 and 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for committing the offence of money laundering under Section 3 of the Act, along with Section 70, which deals with offences by companies, to establish the vicarious liability of the firms’ office bearers and executives.
The agency has sought punishment for the accused under Section 4 of the PMLA, which provides for a jail term of up to seven years.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED), citing a 2017 Income Tax assessment order, has alleged in its chargesheet that key office-bearers of the All India Congress Committee(AICC), along with the principal officers of Associated Journals Limited (AJL) and Young Indian, orchestrated a “criminal conspiracy” to take over properties worth ₹2,000 crore belonging to AJL, an unlisted public company, PTI reported.
The ED has mentioned that 99 per cent of AJL’s shares were transferred to Young Indian—a private firm—for just ₹50 lakh. Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi each hold a 38 per cent stake in Young Indian, while the remaining 24 per cent was jointly held by the late Motilal Vora and Oscar Fernandes, who the ED describes as “close associates” of the Gandhis.
The chargesheet further alleges that the accused conspired to convert an outstanding loan of ₹90.21 crore, earlier extended by AICC to AJL, into equity shares worth ₹9.02 crore, which were then transferred to Young Indian for a nominal sum.
This move, the ED claims, effectively gave Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi “beneficial ownership” of AJL’s vast real estate assets.
Although Young Indian was registered under Section 25 of the Companies Act as a not-for-profit entity—a defence Congress has consistently highlighted—the ED has maintained that the company did not engage in any charitable activities. Sources said the agency found no expenses related to such activities during Young Indian’s existence.
The chargesheet also refers to the 2017 Income Tax assessment order to support its claim that Young Indian evaded over ₹414 crore in taxes by “illegally acquiring” AJL’s assets.
