'AICC tried to revive AJL': Rahul Gandhi's counsel in Herald case

NEW DELHI: All India Congress Committee ( AICC ) was not trying to sell assets of Associated Journals Limited (AJL), the company which published National Herald newspaper, but rather trying to save the institution that was a part of the freedom movement, senior advocate R S Cheema, representing Rahul Gandhi , told a Delhi court Saturday. Cheema made his submissions before the court of special judge Vishal Gogne, which is hearing arguments on the point of cognisance of the chargesheet filed against Sonia Gandhi , Rahul and others in National Herald money laundering case .

"In post-Independence period, it (AJL) was never a commercial institution. We (AICC) were trying to retrieve an institution which is part of the freedom movement heritage. The problem was not recovering the loan (given to AJL) but to revive it, to see that it comes back on the rails. AICC was not looking for profit from sales. This is a squinted version," Cheema said.

According to ED, Sonia and Rahul, along with others and a private company, Young Indian Pvt Ltd, conspired to launder money by fraudulently usurping AJL's properties valued at over Rs 2,000 crore in exchange for a loan of Rs 90 crore. Cheema said ED's allegations were "crude lies".

The senior advocate said ED made unwarranted inferences against Rahul by wrongly assuming that he was the person in-charge of AICC's affairs as its general secretary in 2010. According to the party constitution, AICC has several general secretaries at a point in time, and no one of them could be in-charge of its affairs, Cheema pointed out. The counsel further stated Sonia, then Congress president, was wrongly inferred as person in-charge of AICC when the loan was assigned to AJL.

The arguments will continue against other accused, including Suman Dubey, Sam Pitroda, Sunil Bhandari, Young Indian and Dotex Merchandise Pvt Ltd, on Monday.