A Delhi court on Friday issued notices to Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in the National Herald money-laundering case, reported Bar and Bench.

Special Judge (Prevention of Corruption Act) Vishal Gogne also issued notices to Congress leader Sam Pitroda and journalist Suman Dubey.

The case has been posted for hearing on May 8.

The Enforcement Directorate filed its chargesheet in the case on April 9. This came after the central agency’s move to seize properties worth Rs 661 crore linked to the case in Delhi, Mumbai and Lucknow.

The central agency had attached the properties in November 2023 through a provisional attachment order issued in a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The case has been filed against the newspaper’s publisher, Associated Journals Limited and its holding company, Young Indian Private Limited.

Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are majority shareholders of Young Indian and hold 38% of its shares each.

The Enforcement Directorate said that the properties were attached “to secure the proceeds of crime and to prevent the accused from dissipating the same”.

On April 25, Gogne refused to issue notices to Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, asking the central agency to submit additional documents, reported The Indian Express.

The allegations

In April 2008, the National Herald, which was founded and edited by Jawaharlal Nehru before he became India’s first prime minister, suspended operations as it had incurred a debt of over Rs 90 crore.

Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy filed a complaint against the newspaper in 2012, alleging that Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi set up Young Indian Private Limited to buy the debt using the funds from the party.

Swamy alleged that Young Indian paid only Rs 50 lakh to obtain the right to recover Rs 90.2 crore that the Associated Journals Limited owed to the Congress.

The Congress has claimed that there was no money exchange, and that only debt was converted into equity to pay off certain dues including employee salaries.