On Wednesday (10th April), the adjudicating authority of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) upheld the attachment of assets worth Rs 750 crore of Congress-held Associated Journals Limited (AJL) and later acquired by Young India.
In its order, the authority stated that it noted that the equity shares and movable assets that the ED had attached were proceeds of crime and were connected with money laundering offences.
The attached assets, which include the hundreds of crores-worth National Herald building in Delhi and other properties owned by AJL in prime locations across major Indian cities, would be seized by the enforcement agency after the PMLA adjudicating authority’s order.
As reported back in November last year, the Enforcement Directorate had issued an order to provisionally attach properties worth Rs. 751.9 Crore in a money-laundering case investigated under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 against Associated Journals Limited (AJL) and Young Indian (YI), a release said.
Investigation revealed that Associated Journals Ltd. (AJL) is in possession of proceeds of crime in the form of immovable properties spread across many cities of India such as Delhi, Mumbai and Lucknow to the tune of Rs. 661.69 Crore and Young Indian (YI) is in possession of proceeds of crime to the tune of Rs. 90.21 Crore in the form of investment in equity shares of AJL.
ED initiated a money-laundering investigation on the basis of a process issued by the Court of Metropolitan Magistrate of Delhi after taking cognizance of a private complaint vide order dated June 26, 2014. The complaint was filed by former BJP MP Subramanian Swamy.
“The Court held that seven accused persons including Young India, prima facie committed offences of criminal breach of trust under section 406 of IPC, cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property under section 420 of IPC, dishonest misappropriation of property under section 403 and criminal conspiracy under 120B of IPC,” ED said.
The Court held that the accused persons hatched a criminal conspiracy to acquire properties worth hundreds of Crores of AJL through a special purpose vehicle, Young Indian. AJL was given land on concessional rates in various cities of India for the purpose of publishing newspapers. AJL closed its publishing operations in 2008 and started using the properties for commercial purposes.
Notably, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi Mallikarjun Kharge, the president of the Congress party, and a few other party leaders were questioned; the agency recorded their statements in relation to the case. The ED had revealed that the Congress party relaunched the news operations of the National Herald in 2016 to make it appear as if it was still engaged in newspaper publishing. The brand relaunching took place after ED and other agencies started probing into company affairs.
