A Delhi court on Tuesday dismissed the Enforcement Directorate’s money laundering complaint against Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in the National Herald case, holding that the prosecution was not maintainable in law.
Special Judge (PC Act) Vishal Gogne of the Rouse Avenue Court ruled that the ED’s complaint under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) could not proceed as it was based on a private complaint filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, and not on any registered FIR. The Court held that the ED can initiate money laundering proceedings only when there is an FIR relating to a scheduled offence under the PMLA.
Declining to take cognisance, the Court noted that although the Delhi Police’s Economic Offences Wing has now registered an FIR in the matter, it would be premature to examine the merits of the ED’s allegations at this stage. The complaint was accordingly dismissed, with liberty to the ED to make further submissions after the investigation progresses.
Apart from the Gandhis, the ED had named Suman Dubey, Sam Pitroda, Young Indian, Dotex Merchandise and Sunil Bhandari as accused. The case relates to alleged laundering of proceeds arising from the takeover of properties of Associated Journals Limited, publisher of National Herald, by Young Indian, in which Sonia and Rahul Gandhi are majority shareholders.
Appearances:
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.