The Enforcement Directorate (ED) told a Delhi court on July 3, that Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi gained full control over Associated Journals Limited (AJL)—the original publisher of the National Herald newspaper—by paying a mere Rs 50 lakh, despite the company holding real estate assets worth over Rs 2,000 crore across major Indian cities.
The revelation came during a hearing at the Rouse Avenue Court where Special Judge (PC Act) Vishal Gogne is considering whether to take cognisance of the ED’s prosecution complaint in the National Herald money laundering case, a matter that has deepened into one of independent India’s most controversial political scandals.
Presenting the case on behalf of the ED, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju stated that the assets owned by AJL were not ordinary. These include prime plots and buildings in Delhi, Lucknow, Bhopal, Indore, Panchkula, Patna, and several other cities. These properties were allotted to AJL by successive Central and State governments post-Independence to support the newspaper’s role in nation-building, journalism, and public discourse.
However, the ED alleges that once the Gandhi family-controlled entity Young Indian took over AJL, the company made a startling declaration: it had no intention of continuing newspaper publishing, including shutting down the National Herald altogether.
ASG Raju described this as a betrayal of public trust, “These properties were allotted for running a newspaper that contributed to democracy. Instead, they were turned into a real estate empire without any publishing. To take over assets worth Rs 2,000 crores, they paid Rs 50 lakh. That’s not just a bargain—it’s an engineered fraud,” he told the court.
The Corporate Web: How the alleged fraud was engineered
The ED’s case hinges on the 2010 decision by the Congress party to assign a loan of Rs 90 crore, earlier given to AJL, to Young Indian—a company where Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi together held a 76 per cent majority stake. The remaining 24 per cent was allegedly controlled by close loyalists of the family, including the late Motilal Vora and Oscar Fernandes.
In return for the Rs 90 crore debt, Young Indian reportedly paid just Rs 50 lakh. With that single transaction, it acquired AJL’s entire equity, including control over its vast real estate assets. The ED argues that the loan itself was dubious and was never intended to be repaid. Instead, it served as a smokescreen for a carefully orchestrated corporate capture. “This was a classic case of layering, concealment, and acquisition of tainted property through criminal conspiracy,” the ED prosecution complaint states.
Further, ASG Raju told the court that after the takeover, close aides of the Gandhis were placed as AJL directors to ensure complete control and facilitate the alleged laundering process.
According to the ED’s prosecution complaint filed on April 15, 2025, this was not a mere case of commercial mismanagement—it involved systemic betrayal of institutional ethics, diversion of political funds for personal gain, and violation of public interest. The ED claims that the Congress party used its own political funds—collected through donations and taxpayer-subsidised contributions—to finance the loan, which was then quietly siphoned off into a private company to acquire public properties.
More disturbingly, the Gandhis’ entity Young Indian stated in filings post-takeover that it was “not interested in continuing publishing activities,” effectively abandoning the journalistic purpose for which AJL was founded by Jawaharlal Nehru and other freedom fighters in 1938.
“This is not just financial misappropriation. It’s a political betrayal of India’s journalistic heritage and the legacy of public service that the National Herald once represented,” said a legal expert closely following the case.
The case first came to public attention through a private criminal complaint filed by former Union Minister Dr. Subramanian Swamy in 2012. Swamy accused Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Motilal Vora, Oscar Fernandes, Suman Dubey, Sam Pitroda, and the company Young Indian of cheating, criminal conspiracy, breach of trust, and misappropriation of property.
What began as a corruption allegation is now a full-fledged money laundering prosecution under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. The ED’s complaint seeks to prosecute the Gandhis and other accused under multiple provisions of the PMLA, including Section 3 (offence of money laundering), punishable under Section 4 (up to 7 years of rigorous imprisonment and fine).
While the Congress party has consistently denied any wrongdoing, dismissing the case as “political vendetta,” the legal proceedings have grown more serious. The ED’s complaint is backed by documentary evidence, statements of key witnesses, and financial transaction trails, which the agency says expose the intentional concealment and layering of transactions to acquire tainted property.
The Rouse Avenue Court is expected to take a decision on cognisance soon. If it does, Sonia and Rahul Gandhi—India’s most prominent political dynasty—may face the prospect of standing trial in one of independent India’s most high-profile cases of alleged financial and institutional fraud.
The court will continue to hear arguments on July 3.
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