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Vadra, 56, has earlier been questioned by the ED in the Bhandari-linked case. (Photo credit: Getty Images)
INDIA's financial crimes agency, the Enforcement Directorate, on Thursday filed a chargesheet against businessman Robert Vadra, husband of Congress Party MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, in a money laundering case linked to fugitive UK-based arms consultant Sanjay Bhandari, officials said.
The agency filed a supplementary prosecution complaint before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Delhi.
The case has been listed for cognisance on December 6, officials said. This is the second money laundering chargesheet against Vadra. In July, the ED filed a chargesheet related to alleged irregularities in a land deal in Shikohpur, Haryana.
Vadra, 56, has earlier been questioned by the ED in the Bhandari-linked case. There was no immediate response from Vadra or his legal team.
The ED registered a criminal case against Bhandari and others under the PMLA in February 2017, after taking cognisance of an Income Tax department chargesheet filed under the anti-black money law of 2015.
In an earlier chargesheet filed in 2023, the ED alleged that Bhandari "acquired" the 12, Bryanston Square property in London in 2009 and got it renovated "as per the directions of Robert Vadra and the funds for renovation were provided by Robert Vadra".
Officials said the ED probe found that Vadra was "assisting" Bhandari and "using" the London property, which they stated was "proceeds of crime" under the PMLA.
Vadra has denied owning any London property directly or indirectly. Calling the charges a political witch hunt, he has said he was being "hounded and harassed" to subserve political ends.
Officials said the agency confronted Vadra with evidence gathered from other countries, to which he allegedly did not give a "satisfactory" reply.
They said the London property acquired by Bhandari was "beneficially" used by Vadra for personal purposes and that a chargesheet was filed because he was found in possession of the "proceeds of crime".
The ED is understood to have found that the property, purchased by Bhandari for 1.9 million GBP, was furnished by Vadra. Officials said Vadra provided funds for furnishing, decided the interiors and used to "stay" in the property even as ownership moved from Bhandari to CC Thampi to one "Mr. Cheru".
The agency said evidence showed Vadra used the property when it was in "benami" names.
Bhandari, 63, left for London in 2016 after the Income Tax department raided him in Delhi. His extradition request was turned down by a UK court. He was declared a fugitive economic offender by a Delhi court in July.
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