The Enforcement Directorate on Friday approached the Delhi High Court, challenging a trial court order that refused to take cognisance of its charge sheet against Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in the National Herald case. The plea is expected to come up for hearing next week.
The challenge is directed against a December 16 order of the trial court, which held that taking cognisance of the ED’s complaint was “impermissible in law” because it was not based on a first information report (FIR). The court ruled that a money laundering investigation and the resulting prosecution complaint under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) could not be sustained without an FIR for a scheduled offence.
According to the trial court, the ED’s probe had originated from a private complaint rather than an FIR. It said that once cognisance was declined on a pure question of law, there was no need to examine the merits of the allegations at that stage.
The court also noted that although a complaint was filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy and a summoning order was issued in 2014, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has not registered any FIR in relation to the alleged scheduled offence so far. Despite this, the ED went ahead and recorded an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) on June 30, 2021, even though no FIR existed with the CBI or any other law enforcement agency at the time, the trial court observed.
In the National Herald matter, the ED has accused Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, late Congress leaders Motilal Vora and Oscar Fernandes, along with Suman Dubey, Sam Pitroda and the private company Young Indian, of conspiracy and money laundering. The agency alleges that properties worth around Rs 2,000 crore belonging to Associated Journals Limited (AJL), which publishes the National Herald newspaper, were acquired through a fraudulent arrangement.
The ED has further claimed that the Gandhis held a majority 76 per cent stake in Young Indian, which allegedly usurped AJL’s assets in exchange for a Rs 90 crore loan. With the agency now challenging the trial court’s legal findings, the Delhi High Court is set to examine whether the absence of an FIR bars the ED’s prosecution under the PMLA in this high-profile case.
