New Delhi: A Delhi court on Tuesday dismissed the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) money laundering complaint against Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi in the National Herald case, holding that the case is not legally sustainable at this stage. Special Judge (PC Act) Vishal Gogne of Rouse Avenue Court ruled that the complaint filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act could not be heard as it was not based on an FIR.
The judge noted that the ED's case arose from a personal complaint filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy before a magistrate, and not from any FIR relating to a scheduled offence under the PMLA.
The court clarified that under the law, investigation and prosecution of money laundering can proceed only when there is an FIR for a predicate offence listed in the Schedule to the Act. The court said that in the absence of such an FIR, it would be incompetent to take cognizance of the ED's complaint.
In its order, the court refused to take cognizance of the alleged offence of money laundering and dismissed the prosecution complaint. It further said that the action under Sections 3 and 4 of the PMLA cannot stand without the legal foundation required by law.
Along with this, the judge observed that the Economic Offences Wing of Delhi Police has now registered an FIR in the matter. In view of this development, the court said that it would be inadmissible to examine the merits of the charges levelled by the ED at this stage.
The court left the agency free to place further submissions on record as per the law. Apart from Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, the ED had also named Suman Dubey, Sam Pitroda, Young Indian, Dotex Merchandise and Sunil Bhandari as accused in its complaint.