New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has identified 12 properties of arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari in Delhi, two each worth several million dollars in the UK and the UAE , and bank deposits, jewellery and cash running into crores, which can now be confiscated because he was declared a fugitive economic offender (FEO) last week, people familiar with the development said.
The properties traced for confiscation are located in South City-1 and DLF Phase 1 in Gurugram, Jaypee Greens in Noida, Shahpur Jat, Hauz Khas, Vasant Vihar, Panchsheel Park (four properties), and Greater Kailash (two properties) in Delhi.
An ED officer who didn’t want to be named said “the total value of these 12 properties is listed around ₹31 crore but actual market value would be much higher as some of them were obtained or registered in the early 2000s in the name of his family members or companies”.
The two properties in London are 12, Bryanston Square, which is also linked to Congress leader Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra, and Flat number 6, Grosvenor Hill Court, 13 Bourdon Street.
ED has previously claimed that Bryanston Square property, purchased in 2009 for 1.9 million pounds, was linked to Vadra as it was renovated on his directions and using his funds. It alleged that Vadra even stayed there “three-four times”. The officer cited above said “this property has been sold by Bhandari, a sale he didn’t disclose to the Income Tax department”.
{{/usCountry}}ED has previously claimed that Bryanston Square property, purchased in 2009 for 1.9 million pounds, was linked to Vadra as it was renovated on his directions and using his funds. It alleged that Vadra even stayed there “three-four times”. The officer cited above said “this property has been sold by Bhandari, a sale he didn’t disclose to the Income Tax department”.
{{/usCountry}}Bhandari’s two properties in the UAE are at Palm Jumeirah and Burj Khalifa. “The exact valuation of the four London and Dubai properties is yet to be done but they must be worth several million dollars,” said a second ED officer.
In the UAE, ED has also identified six companies linked to Bhandari, including Santech International FZC and Offset India Solutions FZC.
A Delhi court on July 5 declared Bhandari as an ‘economic fugitive’ under the fugitive economic offender (FEO) Act, 2018, which allows ED to confiscate properties anywhere in the world without conviction and bars Bhandari from filing or defending civil proceedings in India.
Officials said a list of these 16 properties (12 in India and 4 in London and Dubai) has already been submitted before the court for issuance of confiscation orders.
Apart from immovable properties, ED has also identified bank deposits in India totalling ₹54.64 lakh, and 19 bank accounts in the UAE, for which requests seeking information would be sent through formal channels; and jewellery and cash totalling ₹5.81 crore. The cash and jewellery was seized by the Income Tax department during raids at various premises linked to Bhandari in Delhi NCR in April 2016.
According to ED and the Income Tax department, 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 is also 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.
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, 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 the Indian government against it was rejected on April 4.
With the window to extradite him closing, ED has had him declared a fugitive economic offender so as to seize his properties.