National Herald: Congress leader Pawan Bansal appears before ED

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Congress leader Pawan Kumar Bansal on Tuesday appeared before the ED here for questioning in a money laundering case related to the party-promoted Young Indian that owns National Herald newspaper, officials said.

The former Union minister arrived with a bunch of files at the new Enforcement Directorate (ED) headquarters located in central Delhi around 10.30 AM.

His statement will be recorded by the agency under the criminal provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the officials said.

The ED had on Monday questioned senior Congress politician and Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge for about five hours in connection with the case.

The National Herald is published by Associated Journals Limited (AJL) and owned by Young Indian Pvt Limited.

Kharge is stated to be the CEO of the Young Indian while Bansal (73) is the managing director of AJL and also the interim treasurer of the Congress.

The questioning of the veteran Congress leaders is part of ED’s investigation to understand the share holding pattern, financial transactions and role of the promoters of Young Indian and AJL, officials said.

The agency registered a fresh case under the criminal provisions of the PMLA after a trial court here took cognisance of an Income Tax Department probe against Young Indian Pvt Ltd on the basis of a private criminal complaint filed by BJP MP Subramanian Swamy in 2013, sources had said.

The agency is expected to summon other promoters of the Young Indian soon.

The first family of the Congress party, including party president Sonia Gandhi and her MP-son Rahul Gandhi, are among the promoters and shareholders of Young Indian.

After the ED examined Kharge on Monday, the Congress party’s whip in Lok Sabha Manickam Tagore accused the government of harassing the senior Congress leader.

Tagore said the government wants to insult Dalit leaders , and added Kharge would not surrender to such tactics.

Swamy had accused Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and others of conspiring to cheat and misappropriate funds, with Young Indian Pvt Ltd paying only Rs 50 lakh to obtain the right to recover Rs 90.25 crore that AJL owed to the Congress.

The Delhi High Court had in February last year issued a notice to the Gandhis for their response on Swamy’s plea seeking to lead evidence in the matter before the trial court.

They, however, contended in the Delhi High Court that the petition was misconceived and premature .

The other accused in this case are journalist-author Suman Dubey and technocrat Sam Pitroda. They have earlier denied any wrongdoing.