PMLA Authority upholds attachment of National Herald’s Rs 752-crore assets

The agency had alleged in a statement that in this case the shareholders and donors of the Congress were "cheated" by the office-bearers of AJL and the party.

The central agency had attached these properties in November last year.

The Adjudicating Authority under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on Wednesday paved the way for the attachment of assets worth Rs 751.9 crore of Congress party-promoted National Herald newspaper as it upheld a freezing order issued for these properties last year.

The central agency had attached these properties in November last year by issuing a provisional attachment order in a PMLA case against Associated Journals Ltd (AJL) that publishes the National Herald newspaper, and Young Indian (YI) that owns the newspaper. Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are majority shareholders of Young Indian with 38 per cent shares held by each one of them.

The Young Indian has been under the ED scanner over charges of acquiring the AJL and its assets for a “pittance” against an alleged loan extended by the Congress. The ED initiated the money-laundering probe after a Delhi court took cognisance of a 2014 private complaint.

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The agency had alleged in a statement that in this case the shareholders and donors of the Congress were “cheated” by the office-bearers of AJL and the party.

In the statement, the ED had said it has issued an order to provisionally attach properties worth Rs 751.9 crore.

The Gandhis, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and some party leaders were questioned and their statements were recorded by the agency in connection with the case. The ED initiated the money-laundering investigation after a Delhi court took cognisance of a private complaint in 2014. –With PTI inputs

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