Zeenews Bureau
New Delhi: Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy on Thursday accused Congress president Sonia Gandhi and AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi of committing fraud and converting public funds to finance privately owned company.
Addressing a press conference in the national capital Swamy made explosive allegations against the Congress leaders saying that the mother-son duo together with committing fraud had also misused government facilities.
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.
As per Swamy, Sonia and Rahul acquired ‘Herald House’, owned by Associated Journals Limited for just Rs 50 lakhs, even though it was worth 1,600 crores.
He also accused Rahul Gandhi of not disclosing the details about this company during the 2008 Lok Sabha General Elections in his affidavit to the Election Commission.
The Janata Party president also criticised Sonia Gandhi for conducting meetings for business purposes at her official residence, 10 Janpath, saying it is against law.
Grabbing the opportunity to criticise the Prime Minister, Janata Party president said that he has written a letter to Dr Manmohan Singh, but he knows no reply will come.
Swamy also alleged that late prime ministers of India, Indira Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru are also listed as current shareholders of Young India company.
He demanded a joint probe by Company Affairs Ministry and CBI and 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.
With PTI inputs
First Published: Thursday, November 01, 2012, 19:02