Associated Journal in Young India, properties worth about Rs 5000 crore may be attached. According to the ED, Rahul Gandhi has not been able to give satisfactory answers to the questions in this case in the last three days of interrogation. Rahul Gandhi is to be questioned again on Friday. Earlier, the ED is also not satisfied with the reply of Mallikarjun Kharge and Pawan Bansal. Both of them were interrogated in April.
A senior ED official says that the entire episode of Associated Journal is a fit case of money laundering and in case of no satisfactory reply from the accused, the entire property seized illegally can be confiscated. According to him, before registering the case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, the opinion of many legalists was taken in this matter, and only after being completely satisfied, did the ED decide to take action.
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Rejecting Congress’s argument that money laundering could be done without any FIR, the senior ED official said that the court had taken cognizance in this case under sections 420 and 120B of the IPC long ago and only after that Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi Gandhi had to take bail. Both these sections of the IPC have listed offenses under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, which gives the ED a valid authority to take action in the matter.
It is to be noted that Motilal Vora was the treasurer of the Congress as well as the chairman of the Associated Journal during this entire episode, but he has died in 2020. The senior official said that Mallikarjun Kharge and Pawan Bansal had also denied being aware of the decisions related to it and had told Motilal Vora to be fully aware.
Sonia and Rahul Gandhi have a 76% stake in Young India. A senior ED official said that now only Sonia Gandhi has to be questioned in this case. He has been called on June 23, but it can also be extended due to a corona infection and admission to Gangaram Hospital. According to a senior official, after questioning Sonia Gandhi, the matter will be analyzed and only then a decision can be taken to confiscate all the assets belonging to the Associated Journal.
