Though income tax department has built a strong case in the National Herald matter concerning the Gandhi family, there may be no case made out by Enforcement Directorate (ED), the minister told a news channel.In an interview, Jaitley told the channel, “The National Herald case is prima facie a very strong case. The Congress could simply return the loan and the matter could end. There is no truth to media reports of an Enforcement Directorate inquiry in the Herald case.”Jaitley was referring to reports suggesting that Enforcement Directorate was conducting a preliminary enquiry to see if a case could be made out under stringent sections of the money laundering Act. Sources said the agency was scanning documents with Registrar of Companies to see if it could formally register a case.A formal case is generally registered by ED on the basis of investigations by other agencies such as CBI or I-T department and it is prima facie established that proceeds of the crime was laundered.The case was brought to light by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy who had written to both the I-T department and ED for a probe into the matter where he had alleged cheating and criminal breach of trust on part of the Gandhi family.At the heart of the court case is Associated Journals Limited, publisher of three newspapers, including National Herald, an English daily founded and edited by Jawaharlal Nehru before he became independent India's first prime minister.In 2008, the company shut down with an unpaid debt of about $15 million, according to allegations in a copy of the court order. The case accuses the Gandhis of setting up a firm called Young Indian Company to buy the debt using Congress party funds even though Associated Journals allegedly had real estate assets worth at least $335 million, which would have cleared the debt.Motilal Vora, a Congress member, was managing director of Associated Journals and later became a shareholder of Young Indian Company, according to the allegations. Swamy alleged that Young Indian Company then owned all the equity in Associated Journals and rented out its properties to profit its shareholders, including Rahul and Sonia, who together controlled 76% stake.