Subramanian Swamy alleges Rs1,600-cr fraud by Sonia, Rahul

Janata Party president Subramanian today accused UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi of fraudulently converting a public firm into a private company. He said the two formed a private company named Young Indian and acquired a public limited company, the Associated Journals Limited, which owns the Herald House, a Rs1,600-crore property in Delhi, among others.

"Mrs Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi had floated a Section 25 private company called Young Indian, and acquired the public limited company, Associated Journals Ltd, which is the owner of National Herald and Quami Awaz Newspapers, and all high value real estate property in Delhi and other places in Uttar Pradesh of the said company. The deal is a sham, bogus, and a violation of several laws. It is a fraud committed in order to grab the Herald House in Delhi, that is located in a hub and which is valued at about Rs1,600 crores," Swamy said.

"The first dubious fact of the AJ Company RoC (registrar of companies) details is that Jawahar Lal Nehru, Indira, Feroze Gandhi, GD Birla and other like noted deceased persons, are shown as current shareholders. In fact, 80 per cent of the original shareholders are no more alive. So, too many of the defunct firms, including several companies having dubious addresses in Kolkata, are shown as shareholders of Associated Journals Ltd," he said.

''The second dubious fact is the acquisition of the Associated Journals Ltd. Judging by documents filed with RoC it is wholly illegal. On February 26, 2011, the Board of AJ Pvt Ltd passed a resolution approving that All India Congress Committee (AICC) had loans to the company unsecured and for zero interest rate to extinguish the liability of the company of more than Rs90 crore. It is illegal for a political party to give loans to any company.

The resolution also resolved that in lieu of this deal with AICC, the board decided to allot all AJ's nine crore shares, of Rs10 each, to Young Indian, the private company of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, where both together more than three fourths of the total shares and fully control the said Young Indian company.''

Revealing these at a news conference in the capital, Swamy said Sonia and Rahul, who jointly owned 76 per cent of a company called Young Indian, now also 'own' majority stake in the Herald House.