National Herald case: ED issues fresh summons to Sonia Gandhi

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday issued fresh summons to Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi to appear before it on June 23 in the National Herald case.
The agency issued the fresh summons as Gandhi did not appear before the investigators on June 8 due to Covid-19. The Congress leader had developed a mild fever on June 1 evening and was found Covid positive, the next morning.
Earlier on June 1, the ED summoned Gandhi to appear before its investigators on June 8 in the case, while her son and former party chief, Rahul Gandhi, is to appear before the agency on June 13 in connection with a money laundering case involving the National Herald.
The ED wants to record both Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi’s statements under criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The case, pertaining to the investigation in the alleged financial irregularities under the PMLA, was registered about nine months ago after a trial court took cognisance of the Income Tax Department probe carried out on the basis of a private criminal complaint filed by former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Subramanian Swamy in 2013.
Swamy had approached the court alleging that the assets of Associated Journals Limited (AJL), which published the National Herald newspaper, were fraudulently acquired and transferred to the Young Indian Pvt Limited (YIL), in which Sonia Gandhi and her son owned 38 per cent shares each.