The Adjudicating Authority under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) has confirmed the attachment of assets worth ₹751.90 crore by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case involving Associated Journals Limited (AJL) and Young Indian.
In November 2023, the ED had provisionally attached the properties of AJL in Delhi, Mumbai, and Lucknow, besides the assets of Young Indian worth ₹90.21 crore in the form of investment in equity shares of AJL.
“AJL was given land on concessional rates in various cities of India for the purpose of publishing newspapers. AJL closed its publishing operations in 2008 and started using the properties for commercial purposes. AJL had to repay a loan of ₹90.21 crore to All India Congress Committee (AICC). However, the AICC treated the said loan of ₹90.21 crore as non-recoverable from AJL and sold it for ₹50 lakh to a newly-incorporated company, Young Indian, without any source of income to even pay ₹50 lakh,” the agency had earlier claimed.
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It had also alleged that by their action, the shareholders of AJL as well as donors of Congress were cheated by the office bearers of AJL and the party.
“The ED investigation revealed that after purchasing the loan of ₹90.21 crore from AICC, YI (Young Indian) demanded either repayment of loan or allotment of equity shares of AJL to it,” it alleged.
“AJL held an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) and passed a resolution to increase share capital and issue fresh shares worth ₹90.21 crore to YI. With this fresh allotment of shares, shareholding of more than 1,000 shareholders was reduced to a mere 1% and AJL became subsidiary company of YI. YI also took control over properties of AJL,” the ED further said.
The Congress has denied the charges on several occasions in the past, stating that Young Indian is a not-for-profit company.
