New Delhi, Dec 5 A Delhi court is expected to hear on December 6 the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) submissions after the agency named businessman Robert Vadra, son-in-law of former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, as an accused in a money laundering case connected to UK-based defence dealer Sanjay Bhandari.
Last month, the ED filed a prosecution complaint before 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 Robert Vadras’s connection with overseas financial transactions and properties connected to Bhandari, who is already facing charges of holding undisclosed assets abroad.
Bhandari, who left India in 2016, has since been declared a fugitive economic offender by a Delhi court. The ED’s investigation stems from a series of income-tax raids conducted on Bhandari in 2016, which reportedly uncovered emails and documents pointing to his links with Vadra and his associates.
The ED has previously attached multiple properties in India said to be linked to Vadra or entities associated with him, claiming they represent proceeds of crime generated through Bhandari’s offshore dealings.
Meanwhile, in a related matter, the ED has told a Special Court that Vadra received Rs 58 crore as proceeds of crime from a tainted land deal in Gurugram.
Of this, Rs 53 crore was routed through Sky Light Hospitality and another Rs 5 crore through Blue Breeze Trading. The ED said these funds were allegedly utilised by Vadra to acquire immovable properties, make investments, advance loans, and settle liabilities of his group companies.
As part of its investigation, the Central agency provisionally attached 43 immovable properties worth Rs 38.69 crore, identified as direct or value equivalent to proceeds of crime.
Properties listed by the agency include land in Bikaner, Rajasthan; units in Good Earth City Centre, Gurugram; units in Bestech Business Tower, Mohali; and residential units in Jay Ambe Township, Ahmedabad.
--IANS
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