Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday said in the Delhi High Court that the summons issued against her, Rahul Gandhi, and five others in the National Herald case were “illegal”, claiming that no one was cheated in the acquisition process.
A Bench of Justice Sunil Gaur was told by senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who represented the Congress chief, that not a single person was cheated during the acquisition of the Associated Journals Ltd. (AJL), the publisher of the now defunct National Herald newspaper, by the Young Indian Private Ltd (YIL).
“There was no criminal breach of trust and no criminal conspiracy and neither any cheating took place, and it is a simple company matter where YIL has taken over the AJL,” the counsel said and asked how was “the complainant, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, affected by this private transaction”.
Mr. Sibal also said that the trial court order summoning Gandhi was “full of illegality”.
He said that due to the emotional attachment with the Associated Journals Ltd. as it was supported by former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi during Quit India movement, the party helped it by issuing loans to the tune of Rs. 90 crore over a period of 50 years.
“A section 25 company named Young India was floated with an aim of charity and it is a no-profit-or-loss company and the Congress party had decided to give Rs. 90 crore to Young India as loans,” Mr. Sibal said and asked “is there any provision in the law that prevents any political party from giving loans?”
Mr. Sibal said that Young Indian Private Ltd. was only a shareholder and does not earn or get a single penny from the Associated Journals Ltd. The arguments, which remained inconclusive, will resume on April 22. — PTI
The arguments, which remained inconclusive,
will resume on April 22
