Lucknow: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday dubbed the Enforcement Directorate as Examination in Democracy and said in politics the opposition is required to clear this exam when the government fails.
He said those who are prepared are not afraid of any examination.
“The meaning of ED is now Examination in Democracy’. In politics, the opposition is required to clear this exam. When the government fails, it announces this exam. Those who have prepared well are neither afraid of written-reading exam nor verbal exam…And you should never be afraid,” Yadav tweeted in Hindi.
His reaction comes amid the ongoing questioning of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi by the ED in the National Herald case.
ED summons Rahul, Sonia:
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday issued fresh summons to Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi to appear before it on June 23 in the National Herald case.
The agency issued the fresh summons as Gandhi did not appear before the investigators on June 8 due to Covid-19. The Congress leader had developed a mild fever on June 1 evening and was found Covid positive, the next morning.
Earlier on June 1, the ED summoned Gandhi to appear before its investigators on June 8 in the case, while her son and former party chief, Rahul Gandhi, is to appear before the agency on June 13 in connection with a money laundering case involving the National Herald.
The ED wants to record both Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi’s statements under criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The case, pertaining to the investigation in the alleged financial irregularities under the PMLA, was registered about nine months ago after a trial court took cognisance of the Income Tax Department probe carried out on the basis of a private criminal complaint filed by former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Subramanian Swamy in 2013.
Swamy had approached the court alleging that the assets of Associated Journals Limited (AJL), which published the National Herald newspaper, were fraudulently acquired and transferred to the Young Indian Pvt Limited (YIL), in which Sonia Gandhi and her son owned 38 per cent shares each.
The YIL promoters include Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. Swamy had alleged that the Gandhis had cheated and misappropriated funds, with YIL paying only Rs 50 lakh to obtain the right to recover Rs 90.25 crore that the AJL owed to Congress.
Congress had argued that YIL was a not-for-profit company under Section 25 of the Companies Act, 1956 that can neither accumulate profits nor pay dividends to its shareholders.
