A Delhi court on Tuesday allowed the seizure of properties and assets belonging to UK-based arms dealer and fugitive economic offender (FEO) Sanjay Bhandari in a money laundering case being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
The Ross Avenue court, as per the order passed by Special Judge Sanjay Jindal, ordered the confiscation of certain properties located in India and abroad, reserving its decision on the remaining assets for July 18.
Initially, the court said it had divided Bhandari’s properties, which the CEO had sought to confiscate as part of the CBI action, into two categories – List A and List B. A detailed order is awaited.
On July 5, a Delhi court declared Bhandari a fugitive economic criminal, enabling the agency to seize his properties across jurisdictions that are considered proceeds of crime or “benami” in nature. The FEO mark also prohibits him from defending any civil suit in India.
The court then observed that Bhandari had deliberately refused to return to India to face criminal prosecution and that the value of the offense assessed – an income tax case under the Black Money Act – exceeded $100 crore, which is the minimum to be declared a fugitive criminal.
The court noted that the FEO proceedings are aimed at forcing the accused to return to India to face trial through coercive measures such as confiscation or seizure of assets.
The ED, through Special Counsel Zoheb Hossain, submitted an application stating that Bhandari owns several ‘benami’ properties in Noida, Gurugram, Delhi, UK and Dubai, along with alleged bank accounts in the name of his wife and jewelery allegedly acquired by him as proceeds of crime, which it sought to be confiscated.
Bhandari’s counsel, Senior Advocate Maninder Singh, said that the total value of the offense assessed did not exceed the prescribed amount. $100 crore, citing submissions made by the Income Tax Department for the year 2020. He also referred to the UK Supreme Court’s release of Bhandari, holding that there are no fresh arrest warrants pending against him.
According to the CEO, Bhandari had undeclared foreign income of Rs $655 Crore and tax evasion amounting to Rs $196 Crores.
Allegedly a middleman in defense deals, he is accused of funneling large sums of money through shell companies abroad and investing in real estate in the UAE and the UK between 2009 and 2016.
He has also been under investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) since 2019 in connection with alleged corruption in a company. $A Rs 2,985-crore deal to buy 75 PC-7 trainer aircraft from Swiss manufacturer Pilatus Aircraft, and for alleged money laundering linked to a London property linked to Robert Vadra. In this case, an NRI businessman, CC Thampi, was arrested by the ED in January 2020.
