S Gurumurthy By

Here is the explosive part two of the conspiracy by the Gandhis and their associates to grab the National Herald (NH), which has so far remained hidden. The only defence of the Gandhis in the NH scam is that Young Indian Limited (YIL), which owns and controls 99 per cent shares of the real-estate rich Associated Journals Limited (AJL) is after all a charity company registered under Section 25 of the Companies Act 1956, which rules out any personal benefit to the Gandhis. This defence, itself fake, is blown to smithereens by the stunning new evidence, unveiling part two of the conspiracy. The Gandhi family formula to park the AJL assets in YIL that claims to be a charity company is only one part of the conspiracy. Only that is known so far.

Also Read Part 1: National Herald affair: It’s fraud all the way

The next part, the unknown part two of the conspiracy, is to convert and rid the YIL of its charitable facade and make it a regular company. In part two the UPA government also joins as a conspirator. Within four months of the fake charity YIL grabbing AJL’s properties, the conspirators had stealthily moved the UPA government, which was under their thumb, to frame rules to enable YIL to shed its facade of charity and formally become a real estate company of the Gandhis. Read on to know how far and deep the conspirators had gone and co-opted, besides the slavish Congress party, the obliging UPA government in their mission and conspiracy for greed.

YIL: Crime Syndicate

Now probe the claim that YIL is after all a charity company and YIL holds AJL shares for its objects which are charitable. YIL is no genuine charity. It is a facade. YIL’s objects do not include normal charities like relief to poor, or education or medical relief or assisting the disadvantaged sections and the like. Its main object itself is suspicious. Its stated main purpose is to inculcate in youth “commitment to the ideal of democratic and secular society” and make them participate in the “electoral process”. It has everything to do with politics and elections and little to do with charity as normally understood. The YIL’s directors report (April 26, 2012) stunningly says that, “the company acquired the loan owed by AJL” (later converted into equity) “in pursuit of its objects”. That is the takeover of the loan given by the Congress party and acquiring of 99 per cent of shares in AJL are in pursuit of democracy and secularism. How can fraud serve either democracy or secularism? Had the AJL’s loan continued to remain payable to the Congress would that have destroyed democracy and secularism? The YIL’s accounts and annual reports suppress both the loan amount (Rs 90.21 cr) and the fact that it was due to the Congress party; that YIL settled the pliant Congress for Rs 50 lakh and made a windfall gain of Rs 80.7 cr; that is it looted the Congress by almost Rs 90 cr; that the loan of Rs 90 cr plus taken over from Congress has made AJL a 99 per cent subsidiary of YIL; that AJL’s thousands of crores with properties had become YIL’s with zero debt; that, in the process, AJL has turned into a subsidiary of YIL; that YIL holds 99 per cent shares of AJL (whose face value is over Rs 90 crore with real value in thousands of crores).The 99 per cent shares of AJL held by YIL is not shown as an asset at all in YIL’s balance sheet but written off as expenditure, to suppress the very fact that AJL is YIL’s subsidiary. Each one of these actions and omissions indicate fraudulent intent.

Company law says that the balance sheet of AJL (the subsidiary) should be attached to the accounts of YIL (the holding company). The Gandhis circumvent it by saying that they would provide it to the shareholders on request. Who are the shareholders? Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Motilal Vohra and Oscar Fernandez! That is, only the conspirators, who know the facts, will get them — not others including the public. Every sentence and word in the YIL report is calculated to cover up the fraud. It is more a document of a crime syndicate. Between 2010 and now YIL has done nothing in the cause of democracy and secularism. Its report proclaims robbing the Congress and getting 99 per cent of ownership of AJL as serving the cause of democracy and secularism! Its second (August 8, 2013) and third (August 26, 2014) reports repeat, like a broken tape-recorder, that YIL “is still passing through the nascent phase”. The nascent phase is nothing but the stagnant first phase as the second phase of the conspiracy stood thwarted by the exposure of the first.

New Rules to Convert YIL into Commerce

Here comes the most devastating piece of evidence which exposes part two of the conspiracy which is the ultimate aim of the conspirators. Sibals, Singhvis and Chidambarams say that YIL being a charity company, no personal benefit has accrued to Sonia’s family. This ridiculous defence too has gone for a six now as there is clear proof available that the conspirators had designed to get the law amended to convert the fake charitable YIL and formally make it the personal property of the Gandhis. The Company law that was in force till April 2014 was passed in 1956 and for 55 years it did not allow conversion of a Section 25 company into a commercial entity. The Act had even provided that, if a Section 25 company was wound up, its properties shall be transferred to such other company having objects similar to its objects and not to its members. It means that if YIL was wound up then the AJL shares would go to a Section 25 company with similar objects.

The law was clear that the public nature of the charity company should not be diluted. But after YIL was incorporated in November 2010 and it acquired 99 per cent shares of AJL by March 2011, suddenly a circular went around from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs of the UPA Government in June 2011 proposing draft guidelines for allowing conversion of a Section 25 company into an ordinary company. The circular asked for the response of lower authorities and stakeholders on or before July 15, 2011. Does it need a seer to link the June 2011 circular and part two of the NH conspiracy to convert YIL into a commercial firm of Gandhis?

But before issue of new guidelines for conversion of Section 25 companies into ordinary companies could be completed two developments occurred. One, the new Company law Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha in December 2011 and with the new Bill in Parliament, the guidelines-making process halted delaying the execution of the conspiracy. The next was the exposure of part one of the conspiracy by Dr Subramanian Swamy in November 2012 and his criminal case in January 2013 which effectively frustrated part two of the conspiracy. But finally the conspirators did get the rules they had proposed in June-July 2011 inserted as rules under the new Company law in April 2014, to make way for part two of the conspiracy. Had they come back to power in May 2014 they might have restarted part two of the conspiracy but the people of India frustrated them once and for all.

Rules Tailormade for YIL

See how the rules for conversion made in April 2014 when the UPA was in power were tailormade for YIL’s conversion from charity to commerce. All that YIL had to do under the new rules to shed its charitable facade was: one, pass a special resolution to discard the charitable mask of YIL for which Sonia’s and Rahul’s voting rights alone would suffice; two, state the reasons why the objects could not be carried on as a charitable company; three, mention the principal or main objects to be altered; four, state the altered object and the reasons for it.

These compliances are clerical as the rules do not say that if the reasons are not just the request for conversion would be rejected. Under the new rules, the YIL will need a ‘No Objection’ from the tax authorities only if it had enjoyed any tax concession. It has not. So no okay from anyone is needed. The only remaining thing YIL has to do is to give an undertaking that no part of the income of the company would be distributed to the past or present members of the company. Since YIL has no income and has only losses, it can easily give an undertaking that it would not distribute any income to Sonia’s family and friends.

The most glaring omissions in the new rules passed by the UPA, designed only for YIL and to further the conspiracy, are that it does not bar distribution of the assets of YIL to its members and it does not direct that YIL’s assets should only go to a similar charitable company. Clearly the new rules have been made keeping in mind that YIL should be allowed to distribute its assets, the AJL shares, to the Gandhi family. The ultimate design of the conspirators is that YIL would be converted into an ordinary company and wound up and, in the winding up, the shares of AJL would be distributed to Sonia, Rahul, Vohra and Pitroda, so that they own 99 per cent of AJL directly. But Dr Swamy’s intervention and the court rulings on his case have made it impossible for them to achieve their nefarious designs.

PS: Unless the probe is handed over to the CBI and the court is made to supervise it to remove apprehensions of political vendetta, the full conspiracy involving the UPA government in the National Herald scam will not come out.

The author is a well- known commentator on political and economic issues.

E-mail: guru@gurumurthy.net