Delhi: Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi, reacting to the New Delhi Rouse Avenue Court’s refusal to take cognizance of the ED’s charge sheet in the National Herald money laundering case, said, “I myself fought this important case; this is a very significant decision.

The ED alleged that there was laundering of ‘proceeds of crime’ derived from the alleged fraudulent takeover of the properties of Associated Journals Limited (AJL) – publishers of National Herald, which is worth more than ₹2,000 crore – by a company called Young Indian.

Gandhis are stated to be the majority shareholders in the firm.

It is ED’s case that the shares of AJL were transferred to Young Indian under a criminal conspiracy to illegally obtain the assets of AJL. The value of shares, the immovable properties of AJL and the rent generated from them are the alleged proceeds of crime in the ED case

This was a hollow case that was taken to such a high level, and today, even cognizance has not been taken of it… We had said that this is such a strange case where no money was transferred, no money changed hands, no property was transferred, so where is the money laundering?… The court has not even taken cognizance of it, which means it is a completely baseless case.”