A Delhi court on Tuesday dismissed the money laundering complaint lodged by Enforcement Directorate (ED) against Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi in connection with the National Herald case.
Special Judge (PC Act) Vishal Gogne of the Rouse Avenue Court said that the complaint filed by ED under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) was not maintainable since the case was based on a private complaint filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy before a magistrate and not any First Information Report (FIR).
“Since the present prosecution complaint pertaining to the offence money laundering is founded on cognisance and summoning order upon a complaint under Section 200 CrPC filed by a public person, namely Dr Subramanian Swamy, and not upon an FIR, cognizance of the present complaint is impermissible in law,” the Court ruled.
It underscored that ED can initiate a money laundering case only based on an FIR with respect an offence mentioned in the schedule of the PMLA.
"An investigation and the consequent prosecution complaint pertaining to the offence of money laundering defined under Section 3 and punishable under Section 4 is not maintainable in the absence of a FIR or the offence mentioned in the Schedule to the Act," the Court said as it dismissed the ED complaint against Gandhis.
The Court also opined that since Delhi Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) has now registered an FIR in the matter, it would be premature and imprudent to decide the submissions made by the ED in relation to merits of the allegations.
"Cognizance of the offence defined under Section 3 and punishable under Section 4 is declined. The complaint is dismissed," the Court ordered.
Pertinently, the Court made it clear that since the Delhi Police has registered an FIR and ED has said that the investigation is going on in the case, ED can make further submissions in the case, if they want.
Apart from Gandhis, Suman Dubey, Sam Pitroda, Young Indian, Dotex Merchandise and Sunil Bhandari were also made accused by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
The ED alleged that there was laundering of 'proceeds of crime' derived from the alleged fraudulent takeover of the properties of Associated Journals Limited (AJL) – publishers of National Herald, which is worth more than ₹2,000 crore - by a company called Young Indian.
Gandhis are stated to be the majority shareholders in the firm.
It is ED's case that the shares of AJL were transferred to Young Indian under a criminal conspiracy to illegally obtain the assets of AJL. The value of shares, the immovable properties of AJL and the rent generated from them are the alleged proceeds of crime in the ED case.
However, the Gandhis contended that it is a strange and unprecedented case where allegations of money laundering have been made without the use or projection of the property.
During the course of the hearings, the Congress leaders refuted ED’s allegations that Young Indian was used to usurp AJL’s assets in exchange for a loan. The loan was to make AJL debt-free, they argued.
The National Herald case stems from a private complaint by former Union Minister Subramanian Swamy accusing Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Motilal Vora, Oscar Fernandes, Suman Dubey, Sam Pitroda, and Gandhi family-controlled Young Indian of cheating, criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust and misappropriation of property.
The ED filed a prosecution complaint against the Gandhis as well as Pitroda and others on April 15 this year.
Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju, Special Counsel Zoheb Hossain, Special Public Prosecutor NK Matta along with advocates Harsh Paul Singh, Annam Venkatesh, Vivek Gurnani, Hitarh Raja, Pranjal Tripathi, Ilma Khan, Siddharth Kaushik, Mohd Faizan Khan and Agnima appeared for the ED.
Senior Advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi and RS Cheema with advocates Tarannum Cheema, Kanishka Singh, Akash Singh, Akshay Nagarajan, Nikhil Bhalla, Sumit Kumar, Sadeev Kang and Rishabh Kant Sharma represented Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.
Advocates Sushil Bajaj, Alka Chohar, Aashish Chohar and Akshya Nagarajan appeared for Suman Dubey.
Advocates Kuber Boddh, Manica Singh Avijit and Somya Dhawan represented Sam Pitroda.
Senior Advocate Madhav Khurana along with advocates Nakul Gandhi, Akash Singh, Amit and Sanjivani appeared for Young Indian.
Senior Advocate Pramod Kumar Dubey with advocates Gautam Khazanchi, Vaibhav Dubey, Kushank Sandhoo, Anurag Andley, Ankit Vashishth, Muskan Sharma, Aditi Kukreja and Anshala V appeared for Dotex Merchandise.
Advocates Sowjhanya Shankaran, Siddharth Satija, Akash Sachan and Anuka Bhachawat appeared for Sunil Bhandari.
This is a developing story