National Herald case: ED asks Sonia Gandhi to appear before it on July 21

Sources said Gandhi was being questioned about the ownership of Young Indian (YI) by the Gandhi family and its shareholding in Associate Journals Limited (AJL), the company that runs the National Herald newspaper. He was questioned about the circumstances under which AJL was acquired by Young Indian in 2010 for a “pittance”, making it in turn the owner of all assets owned by the National Herald newspaper. Sources said since Sonia was an equal shareholder in YI, she would be questioned on similar lines.

The case is based on a private complaint by BJP MP Subramanian Swamy to a court in 2013. Swamy’s complaint had alleged cheating and misappropriation of funds on part of the Gandhis in acquiring the newspaper. Swami had alleged that the Gandhis acquired properties owned by National Herald by buying the newspaper’s erstwhile publishers, AJL, through an organisation called Young Indian in which they have 76 per cent stake. Sonia and Rahul were granted bail in the case by the trial court on December 19, 2015.

In Swamy’s complaint before the trial court, Sonia, Rahul and others have been accused of misappropriating funds by paying Rs 50 lakh for YI to obtain the right to recover Rs 90.25 crore that AJL owed to the Congress.