Rs 36 cr bogus advance rent received by National Herald: BJP's Pratyush Kath

New Delhi, April 19 (IANS) The BJP on Saturday mounted pressure on the Congress over the National Herald money laundering case, claiming that the newspaper’s holding company received bogus advance rent payments totalling Rs 38.41 crore from various parties and shell entities.

BJP National Spokesperson Pratyush Kanth said, “Corruption in the National Herald case was executed in three main ways: Through fake rent agreements, advance rent agreements, and bogus advertisements.”

He said AJL received bogus advance rent payments totalling Rs 38.41 crore from various parties, some of whom claimed they acted on the instructions of Congress leaders. There were no valid rent agreements, and the parties involved were shell entities that are used in hawala transactions.

Ahead of a hearing in a special Delhi court on April 25 on ED's prosecution complaint against Congress MPs Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, Kanth said: “Young India, a private company beneficially owned by Sonia and Rahul Gandhi with 76 per cent holding, received donations worth Rs18.12 crore from various persons and entities which were not found to be genuine."

He said when the ED tried to reach out to these donors it found that these donors do not exist.

“The money donated was ill-gotten and the donations were used as a cover for parking such funds,” he said, drilling a hole into some Congress leaders' defence that the ED’s charges against the Gandhis were ‘politically motivated’ as there was no payment or receipt of money in the case.

Referring to bogus advertisements for which National Herald was paid money by some Congress state governments, Kanth said the Himachal Pradesh government headed by Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu paid Rs 2 crore to the media outlet for publishing government ads in a newspaper which does not get printed or circulated.

The ED investigation also revealed that Young Indian acquired National Herald or Associated Journals Limited (AJL) properties worth Rs 2,000 crore for a mere Rs 50 lakh, significantly undervaluing its worth.

The ED probe also indicated that Young Indian and AJL properties were used for the generation of further proceeds of crime in the form of bogus donations to the tune of Rs 18 crore, bogus advance rent to the tune of Rs 38 crore and bogus advertisements of Rs 29 crore.

The investigation by ED commenced in 2021, based on a cognizance order issued on June 26, 2014, by the Metropolitan Magistrate Patiala House Courts in New Delhi, following a private complaint filed by Subramanian Swamy.

The complaint highlighted a criminal conspiracy by several prominent political figures, including Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Suman Dubey, Sam Pitroda and Young Indian for alleged involvement in a money laundering case.

--IANS

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