Congress president Sonia Gandhi was questioned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for nearly three hours on Thursday, in a money laundering case related to the National Herald newspaper. She was again summoned to be present on Monday for questioning.
Gandhi was questioned by the same assistant director-level investigation officer who interrogated her son Rahul Gandhi in the case. A woman officer was also part of the questioning team.
The questioning of the 75-year-old ended on her request, officials said. She is recovering from Covid. An ED official said she was initially summoned again on July 26 but this was advanced to July 25 at her insistence.
Several Congress workers were arrested as the party put up a show of strength across the country staging protests and demonstrations against the questioning of Gandhi. The party is alleging that the government is misusing central probe agencies against political opponents.
“All Congress MPs and CWC members have courted mass arrest outside our party headquarters in a show of collective solidarity with Congress president Sonia Gandhi, a target of ‘Vishguru’s’ political vendetta,” said Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh. His party colleague P. Chidambaram said the ED is not higher than the Supreme Court.
The opposition parties issued a joint statement accusing the government of unleashing a “relentless vendetta against political opponents”.
The Congress president reached the ED office a little after noon. She was accompanied by her children Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. The probe relates to alleged financial irregularities in the Congress-promoted Young Indian Private Limited, which owns the National Herald newspaper.
Rahul Gandhi was questioned by the agency in the case for over 50 hours in sessions spread across five days last month. The move to question the Gandhis was initiated after the ED late last year registered a fresh case under criminal provisions of the PMLA.
This was after a trial court here took cognisance of an Income Tax department probe against Young Indian on the basis of a private criminal complaint by BJP MP Subramanian Swamy in 2013.
Sonia and Rahul Gandhi are among the promoters and majority shareholders of Young Indian. Like her son, the Congress president too has 38 per cent shareholding.
