NEW DELHI, June 23: The Congress national president Sonia Gandhi has been granted about four weeks’ time by the Enforcement Directorate for deposing before it in the money-laundering case linked to the National Herald newspaper, official sources said on Thursday.
Ms Gandhi, who was to appear before the ED on Thursday has been asked to come to record her statement sometime in the last week of July, the sources said.
She was issued a second summons for June 23 by the agency but the 75-year-old Congress leader could not keep the date as she “has been strictly advised to rest at home following her hospitalisation on account of Covid and lung infection.” Ms. Gandhi was first issued the notice for an appearance on June 8 but after she reported positive for COVID-19, the summons for June 23 was issued.
Ms Gandhi was discharged from the hospital only on June 20. She was admitted in the hospital for coronavirus-related complications on June 12, days after she tested positive for COVID-19 on June 2. Her son and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi has been questioned by the agency in the same case for about 54 hours over the last five days.
The probe relates to alleged financial irregularities in the Congress-promoted Young Indian Private Limited, which owns the National Herald newspaper. The move to question the Gandhis was initiated after the ED recently registered a fresh case under the criminal provisions of the PMLA after a trial court took cognisance of an Income Tax department probe against Young Indian based on a private criminal complaint filed by BJP MP Subramanian Swamy in 2013.
Ms. Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are among the promoters and majority shareholders of Young Indian. Like her son, the Congress president too has 38% shareholding. Swamy had accused the Gandhis and others of conspiring to cheat and misappropriate funds, with Young Indian paying only ₹50 lakh to obtain the right to recover ₹90.25 crore that Associated Journals Limited (AJL) owed to the Congress. Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Pawan Bansal were questioned by the ED in this case in April.
(Manas Dasgupta)