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NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate on Friday moved the Delhi High Court against a trial court order that refused to take cognisance of its prosecution complaint against Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in the National Herald money laundering case.The move follows a Delhi court order passed on Tuesday. The court declined to take cognisance of the ED’s prosecution complaint, which is equal to a police charge sheet.In a 117-page order, Special Judge Vishal Gogne held that the ED probe was “impermissible in law” as it was not based on a first information report (FIR). An FIR is required to begin an investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).The judge ruled that an investigation and the related prosecution complaint for money laundering cannot stand without an FIR.The court, however, allowed the ED to continue its investigation based on an FIR registered by the Delhi Police’s economic offences wing on October 3. The agency brought this FIR to the court’s notice during the hearing.The court also rejected the Gandhis’ request for a copy of the police FIR. It said they were not entitled to it at this stage of the investigation.The judge also examined how the case began. He noted that “in the present origin of the allegations, a public person, namely Subramanian Swamy, instituted the complaint under Section 200 of the CrPC (Code of Criminal Procedure). He is not a person authorised to investigate the offence mentioned in the schedule (Section 420 of IPC)”.Based on these findings, the court said, “It is now premature and imprudent for the court to decide the submissions made by ED as well as the proposed accused in relation to the merits of the allegations.”The case relates to the acquisition of Associated Journals Limited (AJL), which published the now-defunct National Herald newspaper.
