Congress leader Pawan Khera strongly responded to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday regarding the National Herald case. He said that he appeared before the ED and clearly told them that ED has no right to tell Congress to sell its properties to repay any loans.
🔹 Pawan Khera’s Clear Stand
Khera said,
“We are not running a money-lending business. We gave the loan without interest to support our ideology through the newspaper. If the loan is not paid yet, ED cannot tell us to sell property.”
He also said that Congress formed a non-profit company to revive the newspaper, and ED should make the seized documents public.
🔹 Congress Spokespersons Slam ED
Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate called the case strange and baseless. She said,
“There’s a money laundering allegation, but no actual money was exchanged. AJL (Associated Journals Ltd) is not an ordinary company. It was created during India’s freedom movement. We only tried to save it.”
Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi also said,
“This is an unusual case with no property transfer or money gain. Young Indian did not receive any property from AJL. No Congress leader got any money.”
🔹 What ED Says
The ED accuses Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and others of trying to illegally take over property worth ₹2,000 crore from AJL. ED claims that:
- Young Indian (a company where Gandhi family owns 76% shares) used a ₹90 crore loan as a reason to take over AJL’s properties.
However, Congress says this was done only to clear AJL’s debts, and no one gained any personal benefit.
✅ Summary
Congress has strongly rejected ED’s claim and says that no fraud or illegal property transfer happened. Pawan Khera made it clear that Congress won’t take financial advice from ED, and their only aim was to protect the values linked to the freedom movement newspaper.