Have pledged to have Sonia, Rahul in court for National Herald case hearing, says Swamy

Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy on Tuesday said that he has given a pledge to the court to make sure that Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and all other accused in the National Herald case are present for the December 19 hearing, and added that he was completely satisfied with the Patiala court's decision.

"I gave a pledge to the court that any date which the court decides in the future Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and all will be present. The judge gave the shortest possible date for this court namely December 19, 3p.m. I am fully satisfied with today's decision," Swamy told media outside Patiala court here.

"Today, I apprises the court of what had happened in the high court. I gave the copy of the order, and then I said that the accused should be present here today.

Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that since the order was passed yesterday, so Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and others were not present due to prior engagements," Swamy added.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi have been asked to appear in court on December 19th in the National Herald case.

The BJP leader and petitioner Subramanian Swamy had also filed a caveat in the apex court to pre-empt any ex-parte order on appeals likely to be filed by Sonia Gandhi and Rahul.

The summons were issued on a criminal complaint lodged by Swamy for alleged cheating and misappropriation of funds in acquiring ownership of now-defunct daily National Herald.

The Congress party had loaned Rs 90.25 crore to Associated Journals Ltd. (AJL), publisher of National Herald, and on December 28, 2010 and it had assigned this debt to Young Indian Ltd (YIL), the charitable company, for Rs 50 lakh, which, according to Swamy, amounted to breach of trust and cheating.