27 June 2014

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In Depth National Herald Young India Fraud Case Court Summons Rahul Sonia Gandhi

In Depth National Herald Young Indian Fraud Case Court Summons Rahul Sonia Gandhi

The complaint, petition was filed by the Subramanian Swamy, a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)

In his petition Swamy accuses that Rahul Gandhi and Sonia of setting up a firm called the Young Indian Company to buy the debt using Congress party funds even though Associated Journals allegedly had real estate assets worth at least $335 million, which would have cleared the debt.

According to allegations Motilal Vora, a Congress party member, was managing director of Associated Journals and later became a shareholder of the Young Indian Company

Swamy alleged that the Young Indian Company then owned all of the equity in Associated Journals and rented out its properties to profit its shareholders, including Rahul and Sonia Gandhi, who together controlled 76 percent.

A Delhi court summoned Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi for a hearing on a petition filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy for the alleged cheating and misappropriation of funds in acquiring ownership of the now-defunct English daily National Herald.

Other Congress leaders named accused in the case include Motilal Vora, Oscar Fernandes, and Gandhi family loyalists Sam Pitroda and Suman Dubey. All of them have been accused of misappropriation of property, breach of trust and criminal conspiracy.

Reuters reported that "From the complaint and the evidence led so far it appears that (Young Indian Company) was in fact created as a sham or a cloak to convert public money to personal use or as a special purpose vehicle for acquiring control over 20 billion rupees ($335 million) worth of assets," the court order said.

Firstpost reported that
The magistrate’s observations while issuing summons after examining Swamy’s petition for about a year is significant. "Complainant has established a prima facie case against the accused under section 403 (dishonest misappropriation of property, 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 420 (cheating) read with section 120B (criminal conspiracy) of IPC... Hence, let the accused Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Moti Lal Vohra, Oscar Fernandes, Suman Dubey and Sam Pitroda be summoned for August 7, 2014. Let the Young Indian be summoned through it's authorised representative for the same date," said the magistrate.

How the Herald Scam happened?

The National Herald was started in 1938 by Jawaharlal Nehru. Over the decades, it lost circulation and ran into major financial losses, leading to its closure in 2008.

The complaint alleged that the Gandhis formed a company, Young India, in 2010 with 38 percent share each to take control of Rs.2,000 crore worth of assets of Associated Journals Ltd, which published the National Herald.

Swamy alleged that they closed AJL in 2008 due to financial crisis and stopped printing the National Herald and sister publications Navjivan (Hindi) and Qaumi Awaz (Urdu), which were saddled with huge unpaid debts.

AJ Company RoC details is that Jawahar Lal Nehru, Indira, Feroze Gandhi, GD Birla and other like noted deceased person are shown as current shareholders! In fact, 80 per cent of the original shareholders are no more alive. So too many of the defunct firms, including several companies having dubious addresses in Kolkata, are shown as shareholders of the Associated Journals Ltd.

On Feb 26, 2011, the Board of AJ Pvt. Ltd. passed a Resolution approving that All India Congress Committee (AICC) had loans to the Company unsecured and for zero interest Rate to extinguish the liability of the company of more than Rs 90 crore. It is illegal for a political party to give loans to any company.

To resolve the financial crisis, AJL transferred the share equity to Young India by a mere payment of Rs.50 lakhs without taking any reference from the shareholders.

Young India thus acquired the complete ownership of AJL real estate assets of at least Rs.2, 000 crores, including a multi-story building in a prime location in Delhi.

Rs 90 crore liability of The Associated Journals was owned by Young Indian for a mere Rs 50 lakhs! Thus, the deal was to grab the Rs 1600 crore worth Herald House and other properties of the National Herald/Quami Awaz in Delhi and in different part of UP for a commitment to pay Rs 50 lakh to AICC for the Rs 90 crore advance as unsecured zero Interest loan.


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Friday, June 27, 2014

Tags – National Herald Young India Scam Rahul Sonia Gandhi