Delhi court declares arms middleman Sanjay Bhandari a fugitive economic offender

The fugitive economic offender tag on Sanjay Bhandari will allow ED to confiscate his properties anywhere in the world and bar him from filing or defending any civil proceedings in India

New Delhi: London-based arms middleman Sanjay Bhandari, wanted in multiple cases by the Indian agencies, was declared a “fugitive economic offender” (FEO) by a Delhi court on Saturday based on a request by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), a development which officials said will allow the federal agency to confiscate his properties anywhere in the world and bar him from filing or defending any civil proceedings in India.

Sanjay Bhandari. (File Photo)

The court ruled that extradition attempt of Indian agencies (for Bhandari) may have failed (a UK court earlier this year discharged him from extradition proceedings) but it doesn’t make him “angel or immune from the prosecution for the violation of Indian laws” and that FEO tag is another way of “making one come back to India to face trial by coercing him to return by attachment, confiscation of the properties” and “dis-entitling such fugitive economic offenders from putting forward or defending any civil claim.”

Brought in by the government in 2018 to deter economic offenders from evading the process of Indian law by remaining outside the jurisdiction of Indian courts, the FEO act empowers authorities to confiscate and attach proceeds of crimes and assets when the amount involved in the case is higher than ₹100 crore. Such attachment is not linked to conviction.

Deciding ED’s request under FEO, filed in 2019, special judge - Sanjeev Aggarwal - at the Tis Hazari court said in his judgement on Saturday - “this court is satisfied that Sanjay Bhandari is a fugitive economic offender under section 12(1) of Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018 and is declared as such under the above provision(s) of Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018.”

Asserting that Bhandari wilfully refuses to come to India to face criminal prosecution, the judge noted - “this court is satisfied that the total value of the schedule offence is 100 crores or more i.e. the schedule to the present FEO Act which is Section 51 of the Black Money Act”, which it added is a requisite condition for declaring an individual a FEO.

With this order, a total of 16 people, including liquor baron Vijay Mallya and diamond trader Nirav Modi, have been declared fugitive economic offenders by different courts.

Rejecting an argument of Bhandari that UK high court order makes him eligible to stay in London and therefore FEO won’t apply to him, the judge Sanjeev Aggarwal said in his order on Saturday - “The said argument is without any substance, as the extradition failure will not make any difference, as the extradition of the accused was one of the means to bring the accused to India to face trial in the said offence under Section 51 of the Black Money Act.”

“Extradition attempt may have failed, but it will not make accused angel or immune from the prosecution for the violation of Indian laws. The FEO proceedings are another way of making one come back to India to face trial by coercing him to return by attachment, confiscation of the properties of such fugitive economic offender and proceeds of crime and by dis-entitling such fugitive economic offender from putting forward or defending any civil claim. This is applicable to an individual, who has committed schedule offence or offence(s) involving an amount of ₹100 crores or more and who has absconded or refuses to come back to India to avoid criminal prosecution in India,” the court ruled, while adding that proceeds of crime in Bhandari’s case are more than ₹100 crore.

Bhandari’s lawyer - senior advocate Maninder Singh - had argued that declaring him as fugitive economic offender entails very serious consequences including confiscation of his property and barring him from defending any civil claims, effectively amounting to economic death penalty.

Dismissing this argument, the court said - “Bhandari always has an option to return to India to get the termination of proceedings under FEO Act and to avoid adverse consequences of Section 14 of the FEO Act. Therefore, when he chooses not to return to India, he cannot take the plea of avoiding all the legal consequences including that of Section 14 of the FEO Act. In any case those who play with fire should be aware of its consequences.”

According to ED and the Income Tax department, during the extradition proceedings, Bhandari had undisclosed foreign income worth ₹655 crore on which he evaded tax worth ₹196 crore.

The middleman in defence deals deposited huge amounts of money in bank accounts of overseas shell companies and also invested in properties in the UAE and the UK (between 2009 and 2016).

He has also been under investigation since 2019 by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on charges of corruption in a ₹2,985-crore deal in 2009 to procure 75 PC-7 trainer aircraft from Swiss plane maker Pilatus Aircraft and for allegedly laundering money for properties allegedly linked to former Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra in London, in which NRI businessman C C Thampi was arrested by ED in January 2020.

It has also been probing Bhandari’s links with Robert Vadra, the businessman husband of Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

He fled from India in 2016 via Nepal and an Interpol red notice was issued against him in October 2017.

The Indian government sent two extradition requests against the fugitive businessman under money laundering and black money act which were certified by the then UK home secretary Priti Patel in June 2020, after which, British authorities arrested him on July 15, 2020. A court, however, released him on bail pending extradition proceedings.

A Westminster court subsequently ordered his extradition to India in November 2022 but he challenged this in the high court. The UK high court, on February 28 this year, discharged him in the extradition request and an appeal filed by Indian government against it was rejected on April 4.