National Herald Case: Sonia Gandhi quizzed for over 6 hours on day-2; will appear again tomorrow

New Delhi: Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi was quizzed by the Enforcement Directorate for over six hours on the second day of her appearance in the money laundering case linked to the National Herald newspaper. She has been asked to appear again on Wednesday.

According to sources quoted by ANI, the Congress president was questioned along the same lines as her son Rahul Gandhi. The ED asked her 55 questions so far in two days, ANI said.

Gandhi left the office of the probe agency few minutes before 7 pm. Her statement was recorded by ED.

#UPDATE | Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi leaves from the ED office in Delhi after around 6 hours of questioning in the National Herald case. pic.twitter.com/3oYSVqn0pn

— ANI (@ANI) July 26, 2022

Sonia reached the ED office in central Delhi around 11 am with her Z+ armed security cover, and accompanied by her children Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

While Priyanka Gandhi stayed back at the ED office, Rahul Gandhi left soon after.

Priyanka Gandhi was in another room at the ED office so she could meet her mother to provide her medicines or medical assistance if necessary, officials said.

The Congress interim president left the ED office for lunch around 2 pm and returned around 3:30 pm.

The questioning and recording of statements of the 75-year-old Congress president began at 11:15 am after initial formalities, including the verification of summons and signing the attendance sheet.

She was questioned for over two hours on 21 July when she replied to 28 questions put forth by the agency.

The Lok Sabha MP from Rae Bareli is understood to have been asked questions pertaining to her involvement with the National Herald newspaper and the company under scanner in the case -- Young Indian Pvt Ltd.

The ED will match Sonia’s statement with that of her son Rahul Gandhi as both are majority stakeholders in Young Indian.

The Congress has slammed the agency's action against its top leadership and termed it "political vendetta".

The agency questioned Rahul last month in sessions that clocked over 50 hours over five days.

The move to question the Gandhis was initiated after the ED late last year registered a fresh case under criminal provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

This was after a trial court here took cognisance of an Income Tax department probe against Young Indian based on a private criminal complaint by BJP MP Subramanian Swamy in 2013.

Sonia and Rahul Gandhi are among the promoters and majority shareholders in Young Indian. Like her son, the Congress president too has 38 per cent shareholding.

Swamy had accused the Gandhis and others of conspiring to cheat and misappropriate funds, with Young Indian paying only Rs 50 lakh to obtain the right to recover Rs 90.25 crore that Associate Journals Limited owed to the Congress.

In February last year, the Delhi High Court issued a notice to the Gandhis seeking their response to Swamy's plea.

Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Pawan Bansal were questioned by the ED in the case in April.

The Congress has maintained there has been no wrongdoing and Young Indian is a "not-for-profit" company established under section 25 of the Companies Act and hence there can be no question of money laundering.

It is understood that Rahul Gandhi, during his deposition before the ED, stuck to the position that there was no personal acquisition of assets by himself or his family.

According to the ED, assets worth about Rs 800 crore are "owned" by the AJL and the agency wants to know from the Gandhis how a not-for-profit company like Young Indian was undertaking commercial activities of renting out its land and building assets.

With inputs from agenies

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