Delhi court to conduct daily hearings in National Herald case from July 2-8

A Delhi court on Wednesday said that it would hear the National Herald money laundering case against Rahul and Sonia Gandhi, among others, on a daily basis from July 2 to 8..Special Judge (PC Act) Vishal Gogne of the Rouse Avenue Court ordered,"Learned ASG has advanced opening submissions. The matter shall be taken on a day to day basis from July 2 till July 8 for submissions on behalf of ED and the proposed accused.".At the outset of the hearing, Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for the Gandhis, sought more time to go through the voluminous case record. They asked that the matter be adjourned to July.However, the Court proceeded to allow the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to make its opening arguments today..Appearing for the ED, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju and Advocate Zoheb Hossain sought to establish the proceeds of crime garnered in the case. In addition to Section 3 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, Section 411 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which deals with the offence of dishonestly receiving or retaining stolen property, was also applicable to this case, they argued."Young Indian had no business activity except for continuing for benefit of accused. The shares, assets and rent are the proceeds of crime. The advertisements and loans have kept out...Once the share has been issued, it is a property. The issuance of shares [of AJL] to Young Indian amounts to an offence of cheating," Hossain said.The Court then asked,"These shares are the derivatives of scheduled offence? Scheduled offence is a trigger for money laundering. It has to be derivative. Not every activity of company may be money laundering. It may be criminal activity."The judge sought clarification on whether the alleged wrongful acts are ascribed to individuals, and whether the Congress party was a victim."Not yet. Donors of party are victims," Hossain replied..The Court then asked Hossain to answer a few questions surrounding the case, including,"Are assets owned by company or shareholders? Who owns the property as on today? In simple words, if the property of A is usurped by B, does it become proceeds of crime when it was clean in hands of A?".The National Herald case pertains to the assignment of a ₹90 crore loan advanced by the Congress party to Associated Journals Ltd (AJL) – owner of the National Herald – to Young Indian for a consideration of ₹50 lakh. It has been alleged that there was misappropriation of assets of over ₹2,000 crore in an equity transaction.In his private complaint, former Union Minister Subramanian Swamy had accused 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 had filed the prosecution complaint against the Gandhis as well as Pitroda and others on April 15 this year..Along with Singhvi, Senior Advocate RS Cheema along with Advocate Tarannum Cheema appeared for Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi. Senior Advocate Pramod Kumar Dubey represents Dotex Merchandise.Senior Advocate Madhav Khurana and Advocates Nakul Gandhi and Akash Singh represented Young Indian..Follow Bar and Bench channel on WhatsAppDownload the Bar and Bench Mobile app for instant access to the latest legal news.