Strongly defending celebration leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi within the Nationwide Herald case, former Union minister P Chidambaram alleged that the ED was finishing up “vendetta” on the behest of its “political masters”.
At a press convention on the celebration’s Delhi workplace, Chidambaram mentioned the “political assault” on the integrity and fame of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi was an “abuse of energy”.
“The place is the crime? The place are the proceeds of crime? The place is the contaminated cash? The place is the offence of cash laundering? It’s elementary that there isn’t a transaction of cash. With out cash, there aren’t any proceeds of crime. With out proceeds of crime, there isn’t a cash laundering. With out cash laundering, the ED has no jurisdiction…” he mentioned.
“Congress will resist and combat again (in opposition to) this political assault on its leaders,” he mentioned.
Defending the Gandhis, Chidambaram mentioned within the conversion of mortgage to fairness that occurred within the case of Related Journals Restricted (AJL) and Younger Indian (YI), Congress loaned Rs 90 crore to AJL over a interval of 10 to 12 years. That mortgage was taken on by Younger Indian and is irrecoverable, he mentioned.
“Due to this fact, the mortgage was transformed into fairness,” he mentioned.
Chidambraram mentioned that just lately the central authorities had transformed a legal responsibility of `36,000 crore owed by Vodafone India to it into fairness. Now, the federal government’s fairness in Vodafone India is 48.99%, he mentioned.
“That mortgage can’t be recovered by the federal government. So, two months in the past, that mortgage was transformed into fairness. Why doesn’t the ED file a money-laundering case in opposition to the federal government?” he mentioned.
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Chidambaram mentioned that AJL restructuring came about after authorized recommendation. In 2010, a brand new firm, Younger Indian was shaped as a not-for-profit firm which had 4 shareholders, all Congress senior office-bearers.
In one other press convention in Mumbai, the Congress’ media and publicity division head Pawan Khera rejected allegations of cash laundering and mentioned the celebration used the profitable debt-equity conversion method to save lots of the newspaper, which he mentioned was “an emblem of the independence motion”. “Identical to the British who focused the voice of the independence motion just like the Nationwide Herald and conspired in opposition to it, the BJP now needs to destroy the legacy of the liberty motion,” Khera mentioned.
In a presser in Bhopal, senior Congress chief Kumari Selja referred to as the ED motion “political revenge” and a “BJP conspiracy to divert folks’s consideration from burning points”.