The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has issued fresh summons to Congress president Sonia Gandhi to appear before it on June 23 for questioning in a money laundering case linked to the National Herald newspaper, officia💖ls said Friday.
Gandhi, 75, w𓄧as earlier asked to depose on June 8 but she sought a fresh date from th𒐪e federal probe agency after she contracted the coronavirus infection.
Gandhi has been given the fresh date for June 23 to appear befo💃re the Enforcement Directorate in Delhi where her statement will be recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering🧸 Act, officials said.
Hꦐer son and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi is expected to be questioned in the same case on June 13.
The Lok Sabha member from Wayanad was first called on June 2 bu🦹t after he sought a fresh dat💯e as he was abroad, the ED issued a fresh notice for June 13.
The opposition party has decided that all its top leaders and MPs will take out a protest march on June 13 to the ED꧃ headquarters here and stage a "satyagrah"😼 against what the party called its "misuse" by the central government.
The probe pertains to alleged financial irregularities in the party-promoted Young 🍸Indian that owns the National Herald newspaper.
The National Herald is pubꦇlished b🅷y Associated Journals Limited (AJL) and owned by Young Indian Pvt Limited.
The agency has questioned senior Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Pawan Bansal in April as part of the i♌nvesti🧸gation.
The questioning of the senior Congress leaders and the Gandhis is part of the ED's investigation to understand the share holding pattern, financial transactions and role of the promoters of Young Indian and AJL, o♋fficials had said.
The ED recently registered a fresh case under criminal provisions of the PMLA after a trial court here too🍸k 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.
The Congre൲ss party had called the ED action a "vendetta".
The Congress has termed the charges "fake and baseless" and added the summonses to the Gandhis was part🌳 of the BJP's "vendetta politics".
Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are among the promoters and shareho🧔lders 🧸of Young Indian.
Swamy had accused Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and others of conspiring to cheat aওnd misappropriate funds, with Young Indian Pvt Ltd paying only Rs 50 lakh to obtain the right to recover Rs 90.25 crore that Associate Journals Ltd owed to the Congress.
Theꦰ Delhi High Court in February last year issued a notice to the Gandhis for their response on Swamy's plea seeking t🌼o lead evidence in the matter before the trial court.
The Gandhis had secured separate bails from the court in 2015 after🍒 they furnished personal bonds of Rs 50,000 and one surety.
They, however, contended in the Delhi High Court that the plea by Swamy was &qu🤡ot;misconc🧔eived and premature".
The other accused in this case filed by Swamy are Suman Dubey and technocrat Sam Pitroda. They have e♔arlier denied any wrongdoing.
(With PTI inputs)
