Young Indian another face of Congress, made 'wrongful gains', says ED

The ED had filed its chargesheet against Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and others under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) said the not-for-profit company Young Indian (YI) was just another face of the Congress, and made wrongful gains, according to a report by News18.

In connection with a money laundering complaint in the National Herald case, the probe agency told  Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court that there cannot be a "bigger fraud".  According to ED, Congress leaders Sonia and Rahul Gandhitook a fraudulent decision which resulted in wrongful loss to major shareholders of the Associated Journals Limited (AJL).

Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju also reiterated Young Indian was nothing more than another face of the Congress.

The ED said that as per the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, anyone owning more than 25 per cent shares controls the interest in the firm. According to News18, the probe agency further said that the Gandhi family shunned out major shareholders, and that not only the AJL, but the All India Congress Committee (AICC) was also cheated.

Speaking about why the Congress was not a shareholder in the AJL, the ED said the trust belonging to Priyanka Gandhi had certain shares, but not 50 per cent. The probe agency also said that the AJL also had other shareholders.

According to the probe agency,  a meeting was held in Lucknow on January 21, 2011, in which it was decided to increase the shareholding of the AJL and to issue Rs 9.02 crore shares to Young Indian, in lieu of the Rs 90.2 crore loan.

However, the majority of AJL shareholders were not present in the meeting, the ED said. As quoted by News18, the ED said it was evident that a crucial decision of vesting 99 per cent shareholding of AJL with Young Indian was made with only the presence of seven members, including two accused in the case.

The probe agency also said that no reasonable efforts were made to call the majority of shareholders for the meeting.