The Delhi's Rouse Avenue Court heard the highly publicized National Herald case on Wednesday. The hearing took place in the court of Special CBI/ED Judge Vishal Gogne, where former Congress President Sonia Gandhi, MP Rahul Gandhi, and several others have been named as accused.
National Herald Case: During the hearing of the highly publicized National Herald case on Wednesday at Delhi's Rouse Avenue Court, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) made several important claims, intensifying the political stir. In this hearing, which took place in the court of Special Judge Vishal Gogne, the ED stated that the rent receipts given to Associated Journals Limited (AJL), associated with the National Herald, were fake. According to the agency, fake advance rent was being taken and shown for years, which was entirely a pre-planned fraud.
According to the ED, the money obtained from this fraud should be considered as 'proceeds of crime' (POC). Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju, on behalf of the ED, argued that since this money was collected through fraud, it should be clearly considered as the proceeds of crime.
Questions Raised Regarding Rent Receipts
The ED argued that in this case, many senior Congress leaders gave money to AJL by showing fake donations or fake advance rent. The ED said that if this advance rent and donations were fake, then the income from this money would be considered as the proceeds of crime. The ED also told the court that until 2015, only two people came forward as the real beneficiaries in this entire process — Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. The agency said that the person controlling the company is the real beneficiary, and this is the situation in the case of these two.
Supreme Court's Stance Clear
The court questioned that if the ED considers these receipts and donations as proceeds of crime, then why haven't the leaders or donors who gave this money been made accused? The court asked that if the donors also participated in the crime by giving fake donations, why don't they fall under the category of the accused?
Responding to this question, the ED said that the investigation is still ongoing, and as evidence is found, new names may be included in the supplementary charge sheet.
Court Seeks Clarification
During this, the court also said that some points among the three categories—rent, income from advertisements, and donations—which the ED has described as POC, are unclear. The court said that the rent of 29 crore and the rent of 142 crore have been shown separately, but why are both not considered as the same POC? The ED clarified that the transactions that have been confirmed and fully investigated have been added to the charge sheet for now, but the investigation of the remaining transactions is still ongoing.
During the hearing, the ED made another serious allegation that senior Congress leader Suman Dubey transferred shares of AJL to Sonia Gandhi, while Oscar Fernandes transferred shares to Rahul Gandhi. Then, Rahul Gandhi returned those shares to Oscar Fernandes. The ED also described this as a "fictitious transaction on paper" and said that its purpose was to hide the real beneficiaries.
