New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a prosecution complaint against senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi and her son, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, in a money laundering case linked to the National Herald newspaper.
The agency has alleged that they acquired assets of the National Herald’s publisher—Associated Journals Ltd (AJL)—at an undervalued rate of Rs 50 lakh compared to the actual market value of the assets, which amounted to Rs 2,000 crore, officials told ThePrint. The AJL was founded under the chairmanship of India’s first prime minister, Jawarharlal Nehru.
The assets were acquired in the name of the firm Young Indian, controlled by Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, the agency alleged. Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi collectively own 76 percent stake in Young Indian while the remaining percent 24 belonged to Motilal Vora and Oscar Fernandes—whom the ED has identified as “close associates” of the Gandhi family.
“The accused, by entering into a criminal conspiracy, converted the outstanding loan of Rs 90.21 crore given by AICC to AJL into 9.02 crore equity shares and transferred all these shares in favour of Young Indian for only 50 lakh. By transferring the majority shareholding of AJL to YI, the accused effectively transferred the beneficial ownership of all properties of AJL worth thousands of crores to Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi,” a source aware of the case details told ThePrint.
“The objective of the scheme was two-fold, one, to obtain valuable benefits embodied in business assets of the AJL, and to not pay any tax on such benefits,” an ED official said.
Additionally, according to the ED, its probe also revealed that assets of both AJL and Young Indian were used for bogus donations amounting to Rs 18 crore, advance rent to the tune of Rs 38 crore, and advertisements amounting to Rs 29 crore.
According to court documents, Sonia Gandhi has been listed as accused ‘number one,’ followed by Rahul as accused ‘number 2.’ Others accused, such as Suman Dubey, Sam Pitroda, and Sunil Bhandari, have also been charged under PMLA provisions in the prosecution complaint filed on 9 April.
The Rouse Avenue Court will hear arguments on cognisance on 25 April.
Politics of vendetta and intimidation, says Congress
Hitting out against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said the filing of the charge sheets was the “politics of vendetta and intimidation”.
“The INC and its leadership will not be silenced,” he added.
Seizing the assets of the National Herald is a state-sponsored crime masquerading as the rule of law.
Filing chargesheets against Smt. Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and some others is nothing but the politics of vendetta and intimidation by the PM and the HM gone completely…
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) April 15, 2025
The development comes after the ED, Friday, initiated processes to acquire the assets of AJL, which were already attached as part of the proceedings.
On 11 April, the agency notified the registrars of property in Delhi, Mumbai, and Lucknow to seek possession of immovable properties attached earlier in November 2023.
ED case stems from Swamy’s complaint
ED’s money laundering case stems from a 2012 private complaint filed by former BJP MP Subramanian Swamy before Patiala House Court, alleging offences under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 403 (dishonest misappropriation of property), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) against Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, Congress leaders Motilal Vora, Oscar Fernandes, and Sam Pitroda, journalist Suman Dubey, and Young Indian.
In the complaint, Swamy had alleged that these individuals committed fraud against the Congress Party and AJL by transferring all AJL’s assets to Young Indian for a mere Rs 50 lakh. The accused, it was claimed, were office bearers of the Congress.
Swamy had alleged that the board of Young Indian had passed a resolution to own AJL’s debt after obtaining an interest-free loan from Congress, and hence, in the process, AJL agreed to transfer its entire share equity to Young Indian for the small amount.
In 2021, the ED opened an Enforcement Complaint Information Report (ECIR) against all the accused in the complaint and, in 2022, summoned Rahul Gandhi for five days and Sonia Gandhi for three days.
(Edited by Sanya Mathur)
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