New Delhi, July 5 UK-based arms consultant Sanjay Bhandari was on Saturday declared a fugitive economic offender by a Delhi Court, a development which comes within months of a British court’s refusal to extradite him to India.
Bhandari, 62, who fled to the UK in 2016, was declared a fugitive economic offender under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018, paving the way for the probe agency to attach his assets.
The ED filed a chargesheet against Bhandari in 2020 on the basis of proceedings initiated against him by the Income Tax department under the anti-black money law.
Bhandari was accused of concealing overseas assets, making false statements to suppress information about overseas assets and using backdated documents.
The arms consultant’s political links attracted attention when the investigation agency claimed that he renovated a property in London in 2009 using funds provided by Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s husband, Robert Vadra – a charge denied by the latter.
Last February, a Delhi court ordered a stay on the execution of non-bailable warrants (NBW) against British national Sumit Chadha, accused by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case linked to Bhandari.
Earlier, the court, after reviewing the supplementary prosecution complaint filed by the ED, had found sufficient grounds to summon accused UAE-based NRI C.C. Thampi and Chadha.
The court noted that cognisance of the money laundering offence was taken on October 5, 2020.
The ED filed a supplementary chargesheet against Thampi and Chadha for the commission of offences defined under Section 3 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.
The agency alleged that Bhandari created a web of entities, with Thampi and Chadha working in tandem, involved in acquiring properties outside India.
Chadha, despite summons, refused to receive them through diplomatic channels.
In April 2023, the ED attached a property in Delhi worth Rs 4.50 crore belonging to Sharan Svadha LLP in connection with a case lodged against Pilatus Aircraft Ltd, Switzerland, Bhandari, and others.
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