ED National Herald chargesheet attempt to malign Congress leadership: Tewari
· Says, case will come crashing down in court
CHANDIGARH, April 22: Senior Congress leader, Chandigarh MP and former union minister Manish Tewari today alleged that the chargesheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate in the National Herald case against Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Ms Sonia Gandhi and the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi was an act of sheer political vendetta aimed at maligning the party leadership by the ruling party.
Addressing a press conference at the Punjab Congress Bhawan here today, along with senior party leaders including Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwa and Capt Sandeep Sandhu, Tewari said that the case will come down crashing in the courts as there was nothing unlawful or illegal that was involved.
Giving details of the case, he said, the Associated Journals Limited (AJL), which had been founded by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and other senior leaders and freedom fighters to bring out the newspapers like the National Herald, the Navjeevan and Qaumi Awaz, had run into massive losses and had accrued liabilities and outstandings of about Rs 90 crores.
He said, as is the standard corporate practice to clean the balance sheets, a new company Young Indian Limited (YIL) was incorporated.
He said the INC paid off the Rs 90 crore debt over 10 years of the AJL and acquired its shares. The shares were subsequently transferred to Young Indian limited in a standard corporate practice of debt swap.
He pointed out it is a standard legal practice to convert the debt into equity and that was done in the case of AJL also.
Tewari quoted the example of the Vodofone company, whose debt the government of India converted into equity.
Besides, he referred to Rs 16 lakh crores debt waiver to myriad corporates by various banks to clean up their balance sheets by taking very deep haircuts .
Challenging the contention of the complainant that it was an attempt to grab the AJL properties, he said, of the six properties the AJL owned across the country, only one was freehold while five others were on lease. He said, nobody can sell those properties.
Besides, the YIL which has acquired the shares of the AJL, is a “not for profit” company, which means that even when it earns profits, it cannot give dividends to any shareholders nor can any of the directors be given any salary or any perks.
Interestingly, the trial on complaint on the basis of which the ED has filed the chargesheet is effectively stayed, he disclosed while referring to the complainant Subhraminian Swamy having got a stay on the trial himself from the Delhi High Court.
The former union minister for information and broadcasting said, the BJP government also knows that there is nothing in the case and it will not stand any legal scrutiny. But, he added, the government wants to build a perception to malign the Congress leadership.
Besides, he said, the timing of the filing of the charge sheet was also significant as it was filed just a few days after the Congress successfully concluded its AICC session in Ahmedabad.
