Ed Summons Robert Vadra: Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s husband and businessman Robert Vadra has been summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the money laundering case related to fugitive arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari. The ED has directed Vadra to appear today (June 10) for questioning in the case. Sanjay Bhandari fled from India in 2016. He is currently in Britain. He is accused of hiding property abroad and making bribery. Bhandari is allegedly a close aide of Robert Vadra.
Robert Vadra, the brother -in -law of the opposition leader Rahul Gandhi in the Lok Sabha, has informed the central agency that he will not appear today. He has sought a new date from ED to attend the inquiry. The ED investigation includes assets and financial transactions in London during the UPA government (2004-2014). The central agency has accused Vadra’s involvement with Sanjay Bhandari through London’s assets, financial transactions and personal relations.
He has been currently living in the United Kingdom since fleeing India in 2016. Indian officials are fighting a court battle for the extradition of Bhandari from Britain. The current case is part of a major investigation against him. He is accused of hiding wealth and property abroad, looting bribe money and breaking many Indian laws. According to the ED, Bhandari allegedly acquired property in London in criminal ways from defense deals in India.
In April, ED was questioned by Vadra for about 16 hours in the case. He called it a political conspiracy against himself and his family. There is a land deal in Haryana at the center of the ED case against Vadra, which was bought by his company Skylight Hospitality in 2008 for Rs 7.5 crore. After Vadra got permission to develop a housing society on this land, its price jumped. In 2012, he sold it to DLF for Rs 58 crore.
In this deal, the ED investigation allegedly received a bribe of Rs 310 crore in Sanjay Bhandari’s Dubai Firm Offset India Solutions FZC’s account. The ‘income of crime’ was reportedly used to buy property in Dubai and London. ED discovered Rs 150 crore. Later, Bhandari seized assets worth more than Rs 26 crore in India. Bhandari is accused of hiding foreign property, bribery and violating several Indian laws, including the Money Laundering Prevention Act (PMLA), Black Money Act and the Official Security Act.
