Robert Vadra appears before ED in Sanjay Bhandari money laundering case

Robert Vadra, the businessman husband of Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, appeared before the Enforcement Directorate on Monday for his questioning in connection with the UK-based arms consultant Sanjay Bhandari linked money laundering case, official sources said.

The businessman's statement will be recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), they said.

The 56-year-old Vadra was called by the agency to depose last month but he had sought deferment of his summons as he had to travel abroad.

He is being investigated by the central probe agency in three different money laundering cases, including this one. The two others pertain to alleged irregularities in land deals.

The 63-year-old Bhandari fled to London in 2016 soon after the Income-Tax department raided him in Delhi. He was recently declared a fugitive economic offender by a Delhi court.

A UK court last month refused the Indian government's application seeking permission to appeal in Britain's Supreme Court against the discharge of Bhandari in an extradition case against him, virtually ruling out chances of his being brought to the country to face the law.

The ED had filed a chargesheet in this case in 2023 alleging Bhandari "acquired" the 12, Bryanston Square house located in London in 2009 and got it renovated "as per the directions of Vadra and the funds for renovation were provided by Robert Vadra."  Vadra has denied that he owned any London property directly or indirectly.

Terming these charges as a political witch hunt against him, he has said that he was being "hounded and harassed" to subserve political ends.