National Herald case: Congress for quashing of order, exemption for Sonia, Rahul

New Delhi:The Congress on Wednesday will press for quashing of the order or at least an exemption from personal appearance for Congress President Sonia Gandhi and party Vice President Rahul Gandhi in the National Herald case. If they don't get relief, then Sonia and Rahul would have to appear in court on August 7.

Senior Congress leader and lawyer Kapil Sibal arguing on behalf of the Congress on Tuesday said the only aim of the transaction in the case was to revive the National Herald paper.

Sibal said that the National Herald paper has been aligned with the objectives and ideology of the Congress since 1937 and the party has been giving loans to Associated Journals Limited (AJL) from time to time. He said that complainant BJP leader Subramanian Swamy is wrong in saying the Congress can't give loans.

He said that there has been no misappropriation of funds or breach of trust and the complaint is factually wrong based on which the lower court has come to an erroneous conclusion.

Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said, "The court heard us in detail, various pleas were put forward as to why none of the accusations were made out, the court is going to hear the case tomorrow as well."

Sonia and Rahul were summoned in June after BJP leader Subramanian Swamy filed a complaint accusing them of cheating and misappropriation of funds in acquiring ownership of now-defunct daily National Herald.

Swamy alleged misappropriation of assets worth Rs 2000 crore of the National Herald newspaper. Swamy accused Sonia, Rahul and others of conspiring to cheat and misappropriate funds by just paying Rs 50 lakh by which Young Indian obtained the right to recover Rs 90.25 crore which the AJL had owed to the Congress party.

He alleged that in the present scenario over Rs 2,000 crore worth of assets also got transferred to YI, whose 76 per cent of shareholding vests with Sonia and Rahul Gandhi and the remaining shareholding of 24 per cent vests with the other accused.

The Congress is hoping that the Gandhis who have been summoned for misappropriation of funds will get relief. Among other leaders who have received summons include Congress leader Motilal Vora and senior Congress member Oscar Fernandes.