Delhi HC issues notice on ED plea in National Herald case; matter listed for March 12

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Monday issued notice on the Enforcement Directorate’s plea challenging a trial court order that refused to take cognisance of the agency’s money laundering complaint in the National Herald case involving Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi. 

A Bench headed by Justice Ravinder Dudeja issued notice on the main petition as well as the interim application, and listed the matter for hearing on March 12. 

Appearing for the ED, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta argued that the trial court order “brings the PMLA on its head” and could have a wider impact on other cases. 

Mehta told the court that the predicate offence in the case has already been taken cognisance of, and that challenges to that cognisance were rejected up to the Supreme Court. 

He also flagged situations where an FIR may not be registered because the scheduled offence is non-cognisable, arguing that the ED’s ability to act cannot be restricted only to FIR-based predicate offences. 

Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Rahul Gandhi, told the court that there was a contrary perspective to the submissions made by the ED, after which the court indicated it would record the submissions and issue notice. 

The ED has challenged the order passed by Special Judge Vishal Gogne of the Rouse Avenue Courts on December 16. 

The trial court held that the prosecution complaint filed by the ED was not maintainable because it was not founded on an FIR relating to a scheduled offence under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. 

The trial court noted that the money laundering proceedings were based on a cognisance and summoning order passed on a private complaint filed by Dr Subramanian Swamy under Section 200 of the CrPC, and not on an FIR. 

The document notes that the ED has filed a fresh prosecution complaint under Sections 44 and 45 of the PMLA, alleging commission of the offence of money laundering under Section 3, read with Section 70, and punishable under Section 4 of the Act. 

The case relates to Associated Journals Limited (AJL), the publisher of the now-defunct National Herald newspaper. 

As per the account in the document, in 2010, Young Indian Pvt Ltd acquired AJL’s debts from the Indian National Congress for Rs 50 lakh, and later took control of AJL’s assets valued at over Rs 2,000 crore. 

It adds that the ED’s investigation began in 2014 and focused on financial transactions between the Congress party, AJL and Young Indian, and that the agency has alleged misappropriation of AJL assets. 

The document further states that the ED has moved to take possession of properties linked to AJL valued at about Rs 661 crore under the PMLA.