Enforcement Directorate moves Delhi court to confiscate 2 UK properties linked to Sanjay Bhandari

New Delhi, December 29

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, Grosvernor Hill court, 15 Bourdon Street, in London — 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.

The prosecution complaint was taken on record on December 22 and the matter will be next heard on January 29. Bhandari, who is stated to have fled to London in 2016 soon after the I-T Department raided him in Delhi, is currently contesting an order of the UK Government to extradite him to India.