New Delhi, April 16 (BBC) – India’s opposition Congress party has said it will organise nationwide protests on Wednesday after the country’s financial crimes agency charged senior leaders Sonia and Rahul Gandhi and others with money laundering.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) presented its findings in a Delhi court on Tuesday, accusing the Gandhis of forming a shell company to illegally acquire assets of the National Herald newspaper worth more than 20bn rupees ($233 million).
Congress spokesperson Jairam Ramesh called the charges “politics of vendetta and intimidation” by the government.
The Gandhis who have previously denied any wrongdoing have not commented on the charges.
The investigation also names other members of the Congress party, including its overseas chief Sam Pitroda, according to news agency ANI.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) began investigating the case in 2021 after a private complaint filed by Subramanian Swamy, a member of the governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Swamy alleged that the Gandhis used party funds to take over Associated Journals Limited (AJL), which published the now-defunct National Herald newspaper, and illegally acquired properties worth millions through AJL.
The Congress maintains that it bailed out the publisher due to its historical legacy and had lent more than 900m rupees to AJL over the years.
In 2010, AJL became debt-free by swapping its debt for equity and assigning the shares to a newly created company called Young Indian, which the party says is a “not-for-profit company” with no dividends paid to its shareholders and directors.
Sonia and Rahul Gandhi are among Young Indian’s directors and they each own 38% of the company. The remaining 24% is owned by Congress leaders, including Motilal Vora and Sam Pitroda.
Last week, the Enforcement Directorate said Young Indian had acquired AJL properties worth 20 billon rupees for just 5 million, significantly undervaluing their worth.
It also served several notices to seize assets worth 6.6 billion rupees across several Indian cities – including Delhi and Mumbai – which are connected to Young Indian.
The case is scheduled to come up for hearing on 25 April.
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