New Delhi, 6 December. A Delhi court is likely to hear the arguments of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on December 6. The agency has named businessman Robert Vadra, son-in-law of former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, as an accused in the money laundering case related to UK defense dealer Sanjay Bhandari. Last month, the ED had filed a prosecution complaint in Delhi’s Rouse Avenue court under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
According to officials, Vadra’s statement under PMLA was recorded in July this year. The Federal Anti-Money Laundering Agency alleged connections to Robert Vadra’s overseas financial transactions and properties linked to Bhandari, who is already accused of holding undisclosed assets abroad.
Bhandari, who left India in 2016, has been declared a fugitive economic offender by a Delhi court. The ED investigation stemmed from a series of income-tax raids conducted on Bhandari in 2016, which allegedly yielded emails and documents that pointed to his links with Vadra and his associates.
The ED has earlier attached several properties in India which are said to be linked to Vadra or his associated entities and which it claims are the proceeds of crime from Bhandari’s offshore dealings. Meanwhile, in a similar case, the ED has told a special court that Vadra had received Rs 58 crore as proceeds of crime from a wrongful land deal in Gurugram.
Out of this, Rs 53 crore was sent through Sky Light Hospitality and Rs 5 crore was sent through Blue Breeze Trading. The ED said that this money was allegedly used by Vadra to buy immovable properties, make investments, give loans and settle the liabilities of his group companies.
As part of the investigation, the central agency has provisionally attached 43 immovable properties worth Rs 38.69 crore, which are said to be directly or indirectly related to the proceeds of crime. The properties listed by the agency include land in Bikaner in Rajasthan, units in Good Earth City Center in Gurugram, units in Bestech Business Tower in Mohali and residential units in Jai Ambe Township in Ahmedabad.
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