Robert Vadra questioned again by ED in money laundering case
NEW DELHI : Businessman Robert Vadra again appeared before Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case today. Mr. Vadra, husband of Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, reached ED office in New Delhi this morning for questioning.
The case against Mr. Vadra relates to allegations of money laundering in the purchase of a London-based property worth 1.9 million pounds.Mr Vadra was questioned by the ED in the same case earlier this month.
He has been asked by a Delhi court to cooperate in the probe being conducted by the agency.A senior ED official said: “We could question Vadra for only three-and-a-half hours as he complained of poor health.”We have asked him to appear before us again on February 22 at 10.30 a.m.,” the official told.
Vadra arrived at the ED office in central Delhi at 10.30 a.m. and was questioned till 2 p.m. Outside, hundreds of Youth Congress workers raised slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the ED.On February 16, a Delhi court had extended Vadra’s interim bail till March 2. This was the fourth time that Vadra has been questioned in connection with the money laundering case. The earlier quizzing took place on February 6, 7 and 9.
The case relates to the ownership of undisclosed assets abroad worth 1.9 million pounds, allegedly belonging to Vadra. Vadra was also questioned on February 12 and 13 by the ED in Jaipur in connection with a land deal case in Bikaner, Rajasthan. The ED on February 15 attached Vadra’s Sukhdev Vihar house in Delhi, a property worth Rs 4.43 crore. The house was in the name of Vadra’s company Sky Light Hospitality Pvt Ltd.
On February 2, the court granted Vadra interim bail till February 16 and asked him to join the investigation on February 6.The ED also lodged a money laundering case against Vadra’s employee Manoj Arora after his role came up during an Income Tax Department probe in a 2015 anti-black money case involving absconding arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari. The ED had alleged that Arora was aware of Vadra’s overseas undeclared assets and was instrumental in arranging funds.
(With IANS Inputs ).
