The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday said it had served notices to take possession of immovable assets worth ₹661 crore that it had attached in a probe into a money-laundering case against Congress-controlled Associated Journals Ltd (AJL).
The Congress had earlier termed the ED’s probe “petty vendetta tactics” by the Narendra Modi government “aimed at defaming the Congress in pursuance of the PM’s politics of vengeance”.
The agency on Saturday said notices and the relevant documents had been served to the respective registrar of properties where the assets were located.
Simultaneously, the notices have been affixed at “conspicuous part of these properties” located at Herald House at ITO (5A, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg) in Delhi, in the Bandra (E) area (Plot No. 2, Survey No. 341) of Mumbai and the AJL building located at Bisheshwar Nath Road (Property No. 1) in Lucknow.
The notices primarily seek vacation of the premises to be taken over by the ED.
“A notice has also been served to Jindal South West Projects Limited, which occupies the 7th, 8th, and 9th floors at Herald House, Bandra (E), Mumbai, to transfer the rent/lease amount every month in favour of the director, Directorate of Enforcement,” the statement said.
The action has been taken under Section (8) and Rule 5(1) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) that talks about the procedure of taking possession of assets attached by the ED and then confirmed by the adjudicating authority (of the PMLA), sources in the agency said.
In November 2023, the ED had attached assets worth around ₹752 crore in a money-laundering probe against the Congress-promoted Young Indian that owns the National Herald newspaper to “secure the proceeds of crime and to prevent the accused from dissipating the same”.
According to the ED, the total “proceeds of crime” in the case was ₹988 crore.
In August 2022, the ED had raided the head office of the National Herald in Delhi in connection with the money-laundering probe.
Herald House on Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg is the registered office address of the National Herald, whose publisher AJL is under probe by the ED over its acquisition by Young Indian. The Gandhis are among the promoters and shareholders of Young Indian.
Jawaharlal Nehru had founded the National Herald in 1937.
The ED registered the case in 2021 under criminal provisions of the PMLA on a complaint from BJP politician Subramanian Swamy a decade ago. The agency had started the probe after the metropolitan magistrate at Patiala House Courts in Delhi took cognisance of a private complaint filed by Swamy on June 26, 2014.
The complaint, the ED said, highlighted a “criminal conspiracy” by several prominent political figures, including the first family of the Congress led by Sonia Gandhi, her MP son Rahul Gandhi, apart from late Congress leaders Motilal Vora and Oscar Fernandes and also Suman Dubey, Sam Pitroda and private company Young Indian for alleged involvement in a money-laundering scheme related to the fraudulent takeover of properties valued over ₹2,000 crore belonging to the AJL.
“The legal proceedings against the accused have faced challenges but have been upheld by both Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court, allowing the investigation to proceed,” the ED said.
Sonia and Rahul are majority shareholders of Young Indian, with 38 per cent shares held by each. Earlier, both of them were questioned for hours by the ED in this case.
The ED claimed its investigation has “conclusively” found that Young Indian, which was “beneficially owned” by Sonia and Rahul, “acquired” AJL properties worth ₹2,000 crore for a mere ₹50 lakh, significantly undervaluing its worth.
“Young Indian and AJL properties were used for generation of further proceeds of crime in the form of bogus donations to the tune of ₹18 crore, bogus advance rent to the tune of ₹38 crore and bogus advertisements of ₹29 crore,” the ED alleged.