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Sonia Gandhi attacks BJP for targeting her family, calls witch hunt will help us to come back faster

By FnF Correspondent | PUBLISHED: 09, Jul 2014, 17:25 pm IST | UPDATED: 09, Jul 2014, 17:25 pm IST

Sonia Gandhi attacks BJP for targeting her family, calls witch hunt will help us to come back faster New Delhi:  Breaking her silence for the first time over the BJP targeting her family for her alleged involvement in the National Herald fraud case, Congress president Sonia Gandhi said on Tuesday that the new government is being politically vindictive.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi told NDTV today that the new government is being politically vindictive by targeting her and other Congress leaders including her son, Rahul, in a case that alleges they misused the funds of a newspaper once run by the family.

"This kind of political witch hunt will only help us and help us to come back faster," Mrs Gandhi told NDTV, confirming that her party has been served notices by the Income Tax department, asking why its tax benefits should not be withdrawn.

Political parties are exempt from taxes on all sources of income. But the Congress allegedly broke the law by loaning Rs. 90 crore to a firm where the majority stake is owned by the Gandhis.  Political parties cannot give loans for commercial transactions.

"We don't believe in political vendetta. But if a law has been broken, there will be consequences," said union minister Prakash Javadekar.

At the heart of the controversy is a court case filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, which has led to the Gandhis being ordered to appear in a Delhi court next month.

Mr Swamy alleges that the Gandhis floated a firm called the Young Indian Company which acquired Associated Journals Limited, the publisher of three newspapers, including the National Herald, an English daily founded and edited by Jawaharlal Nehru before he became India's first prime minister. The paper was shut down in 2008 by Mrs Gandhi.

Mr Swamy says the Congress used its party funds to enable the Young Indians to own Associated Journals and that the Gandhis aimed to grab property worth thousands of crores that belonged to the publishing company.

The Gandhis are directors of Young Indian, owning 76 per cent stake in it and the remaining shares are owned by four other Congress members, who have also been summoned to court on August 7.

Reacting on the Income Tax department's recent notice to the Congress asking why its tax benefits should not be withdrawn, she said, "This kind of political witch-hunt will only help us and help us to come back faster."

On June 26, a local court in Delhi had issued summons to the UPA chairperson and Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi in a criminal complaint lodged by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy for alleged cheating and misappropriation of funds in acquiring ownership of the now-defunct daily National Herald.

Metropolitan Magistrate Gomati Manocha issued summons to Sonia and Rahul Gandhi besides AICC treasurer Moti Lal Vohra, general secretary Oscar Fernandes, and Suman Dubey and Sam Pitroda, the other directors of Young Indian Ltd (YI), a company that was incorporated in 2010 and which took over the "debt" of Associated Journals Ltd (AJL), the publisher of National Herald.

Swamy had accused Sonia and Rahul Gandhi and others of conspiring to cheat and misappropriate funds by just paying Rs.50 lakh by which YI obtained the right to recover Rs.90.25 crore which the AJL had owed to the Congress party.

"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 its authorised representative for the same date," said Manocha.

The court, in its order, said, "From the complaint and the evidence led so far, it appears that YI 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 Rs.2000 crore worth of assets of The Associated Journals Ltd.(AJL).

"Since all the accused persons have allegedly acted in consortium with each other to achieve the said nefarious design, there are sufficient grounds for proceeding against all of them," the court said.

It said the accused Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Moti Lal Vohra, Oscar Fernandes were the office bearers and trustees of the funds of the Congress party and the funds of the party were not the personal property of the accused.

"The funds entrusted to them by the party were to be utilised to advance the purposes for which the Congress party was formed. These funds could not have been advanced in the form of an interest-free loan to AJL, as no provisions exists in the Representation of the People Acts or the constitution of the party permitting grant of any such loan to a company engaged in commercial activities," the court said.

"The accused, prima facie appears to have committed criminal breach of trust on the existing share holders of AJL as well as against the company," it added.

The court further said that the accused appeared to have cheated the state exchequer as well by claiming tax exemption by showcasing the objective the donations, etc. were sought by the Congress from the people and diverting those funds to commercial purposes.

Congress party spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi  has dismissed Mr Swamy's charges as "baseless and motivated."

Sources in the Finance Ministry said , "There is no ambiguity in the law. If money goes to political parties, it needs to be utilized for political purposes. The Congress Party needs to reverse the fund transfer or face consequences".
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