The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday alleged that Robert Vadra, the husband of Congress chief Priyanka Gandhi, “renovated and stayed” at a London property which is beneath scanner in a cash laundering case in opposition to alleged intermediary Sanjay Bhandari. After Bhandari fled to the United Kingdom in 2016, the British authorities authorised his extradition to India in January this yr in response to a proper request from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the ED.
Vadra’s identify cropped up first time on this case
The businessman is being investigated by the 2 federal companies on allegations of cash laundering and tax evasion for allegedly possessing undeclared property abroad. This is the primary time that the federal company has named Vadra on this case. In an announcement, the ED stated that it has submitted a brand new cost sheet on this case in opposition to UK nationwide Sumit Chadha and UAE-based NRI businessman CC, often known as Cheruvathur Chakutty Thampi. The probe company claimed Thampi was a “close associate” of Vadra when he was arrested in January 2020. Thampi is presently out on bail.
What did ED declare?
“Sanjay Bhandari held various undisclosed foreign income and assets including the following properties at no 12 Bryanston Square, London and 6 Grosvenor Hill Court, London. These assets are proceeds of crime as per the provisions of the PMLA and C C Thampi and Sumit Chadha have been found to be involved in the concealment and use of these proceeds of crime,” the ED charged. It additional acknowledged that the probe discovered Thampi a detailed affiliate of Robert Vadra.
“Robert Vadra not only renovated the aforesaid property at 12 Bryanston Square, London through Sumit Chadha but also stayed in the same. Vadra as well as CC Thampi purchased a huge chunk of land at Faridabad (near Delhi) and had financial transactions with each other,” the ED claimed. Vadra, the son-in-law of former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, has been questioned by the ED prior to now and he has denied wrongdoing. The ED stated the Delhi courtroom took cognisance of the supplementary prosecution grievance, filed beneath the prison sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in November, on December 22.
About the cash laundering case
It needs to be talked about right here that the ED filed the prison case of cash laundering in opposition to Bhandari and others in February 2017 taking cognisance of an Income Tax Department cost sheet filed in opposition to him beneath the anti-black cash regulation of 2015. The probe company informed the courtroom in its supplementary cost sheet that Chadha “assisted Sanjay Bhandari in concealment, acquisition, possession and use of proceeds of crime and administration/ upkeep of properties beneficially owned by accused Sanjay Bhandari.
(With inputs from PTI)
