ED chargesheet in Herald case bid to malign Cong leadership, says Tewari

Chandigarh Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari on Tuesday alleged that the chargesheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate in the National Herald case against Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi was “sheer political vendetta” to malign the party leadership by the BJP-led Centre.

Addressing reporters at a press conference, along with senior Congress leaders Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwa and Capt Sandeep Sandhu, Tewari also said the case would come down crashing in courts as there was “nothing unlawful or illegal” involved.

Tewari, who is also a former Union Minister, said Associated Journals Limited (AJL), which was founded by Jawaharlal Nehru and freedom fighters to bring out newspapers like National Herald, Navjeevan and Qaumi Awaz, had run into massive losses, accruing liabilities of about Rs 90 crore.

He said, as is the standard corporate practice to clean the balance sheets, a new company — Young Indian Limited (YIL) — was incorporated.

He further said the Congress paid off the Rs 90 crore debt over 10 years and acquired its shares.

The shares were subsequently transferred to the YIL in a standard corporate practice of debt swap, Tewari said, adding that it was a standard legal practice to convert the debt into equity.

Tewari quoted the example of Vodafone, whose debt was converted into equity.

He referred to a “Rs 16 lakh crore debt waiver” to corporates by various banks to clean their balance sheets.

Challenging the contention of the complainant that it was an attempt to grab AJL properties, he said, of the six properties AJL owned across the country, only one was freehold while five others were on lease. He said nobody could sell those properties.

“Besides, the YIL, which has acquired shares of AJL, is a “not-for-profit” company, which means that even when it earns profits, it cannot give dividends to any shareholders or salary or perks to any of the directors,” he said.

Chandigarh