NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Thursday sought certain clarifications from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the National Herald money laundering case involving Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, and others, as proposed accused.
The Rouse Avenue Court, which examined the case diary, is likely to deliver its decision on Friday on taking cognisance of the prosecution complaint filed by the ED under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Earlier, Special Judge (PC Act) Vishal Gogne, who was slated to deliver the verdict on July 29, deferred the pronouncement till the second week of August.
The Rouse Avenue Court had reserved its order on July 14 after hearing detailed arguments from the federal anti-money laundering agency as well as the proposed accused, including the Gandhis.
During the hearing, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) S.V. Raju, representing the ED, had claimed that Young Indian Ltd -- in which Sonia and Rahul Gandhi are majority stakeholders – was used for usurping around Rs 2, 000 crore assets of the National Herald by paying a nominal price of Rs 50 lakh.
ASG Raju argued that 'Young Indian' exists just in name, and all the other accused were puppets of the Gandhi family.
As per the ED, a conspiracy was hatched to form Young Indian to acquire control over the vast assets of the now-defunct newspaper, aimed at benefiting the top Congress leadership personally.
The Central agency said that several senior Congress leaders were involved in "fake transactions" made to Associated Journals Limited (AJL), the original publisher of the National Herald.