NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate has moved a court here to confiscate two properties in the United Kingdom, including one allegedly “renovated and stayed in” by Robert Vadra, as part of its money laundering probe against alleged defence dealer Sanjay Bhandari.
The agency has called the two immovable assets — located at 12, Bryanston Square and 6, Grosvenor Hill court at 15 Bourdon Street in London — as the “proceeds of crime” and undisclosed foreign properties of Bhandari.
The 54-year-old Vadra, the son-in-law of former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, has denied in the past that he owned any London property directly or indirectly.
The ED, while filing the second prosecution complaint (chargesheet) in this case last month, sought the special court’s permission to “confiscate” the two assets under the criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The prosecution complaint was taken on record on December 22 and the matter will be next heard on January 29.
The 61-year-old Bhandari, who is stated to have fled to London in 2016 soon after the Income Tax department raided him in Delhi, is currently contesting an order of the UK government to extradite him to India. The extradition request was made by the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) which are probing money laundering and corruption charges against the alleged middleman.
