Rs 1,600 cr graft: Subramanian Swamy says Sonia Gandhi knee-deep in graft, Sam Pitroda, Rahul to sue

Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy today targeted Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi raising questions over acquisition of a company that published the now-defunct National Herald newspaper to which Congress gave a loan of over Rs 90 crore - Swamy made a fleeting mention of Rs 1,600 cr figure too in his diatribe.

Addressing a press conference here, he said Sonia and Rahul had floated a Section 25 company called 'Young Indian' each with a share holding of 38 per cent, which acquired Associated Journals, founded by late Jawaharlal Nehru, that published the National Herald and Quami Awaz.

Swamy said Associated Journals obtained an unsecured loan of over Rs 90 crore from AICC which he claimed was illegal under Income Tax Act because a political party cannot give loans for commercial purposes.

He also alleged that the Young Indian wrote off the loans due to AICC for a mere Rs 50 lakh and by a board resolution, the Associate Journals is sold by transfer of shares to Young Indian, which is not a newspaper or journal producing company.

The deal, Swamy alleged, was to grab prized property like Herald House in Delhi and other properties of the Associated Journals in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh.

He demanded a joint probe by Company Affairs Ministry and CBI and a wrote a letter pressing his demand.

Congress was dismissive of Swamy's allegations, saying that there some characters who utter "anything, anytime".

"In every society and country, you have some characters. The person you are referring might be one of them who could speak anything, anytime," AICC General Secretary Janardhan Dwivedi said.

BJP demanded an immediate probe into the allegations.

"The government should immediately order a probe into the allegations," senior BJP leader Balbir Punj said.

Sam Pitroda threatens to sue Swamy

... contd.

ALSO READ

I-T dept detects Rs 7 cr tax evasion in transactions of Nitin Gadkari's Purti group

Govt's pre-fixation with PPP not good for infrastructure: Parliamentary Panel

Railway bribery case: Nephew rose from obscurity, worked behind the scenes

Civil Services Examination, 2012: Delhi student Stuti Charan bags third rank