New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) Thursday filed a prosecution complaint against Robert Vadra, the businessman husband of Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, in a money laundering case linked to a land deal in Shikohpur village of Haryana’s Gurugram district, ThePrint has learnt.
The prosecution complaint, the agency’s version of the charge sheet, also named the businessman’s firm, Sky Light Hospitality, as the accused on the charge of purchasing land from Onkareshwar Properties based on false representation, sources in the agency said.
Overall, the ED has named 11 individuals and entities, including Satyanand Yajee and Kewal Singh Virk, directors of Onkareshwar Properties Pvt. Ltd, as accused in the case.
Based on the investigation’s findings, the ED issued attachment orders Wednesday for 43 immovable properties worth Rs 37.64 crore belonging to Vadra and his firms, as well as other accused.
The money laundering case stems from an FIR registered by the Haryana Police in September 2018, following allegations that Skylight Hospitality purchased a 3.5-acre land parcel from Omkareshwar Properties at a comnsideration price of Rs 7.5 crore in 2008. It was sold to DLF Universal Limited, a DLF subsidiary, at Rs 58 crore in September 2012.
It was alleged in the FIR that Vadra’s firm could buy the land only due to the then chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s influence, and later secured a commercial license for the land to develop a residential colony on the parcel.
In April, ThePrint had reported that the ED was alleged to have found that the sale deed between Sky Light Hospitality and Omkareshwar Properties for the land parcels was executed without payment of the Rs 7.5 crore stated as the consideration amount in the agreement.
The ED sources had suggested that Sky Light Hospitality paid Omkareshwar Properties around Rs 15 crore, suspected to have been received from DLF, which was the land’s eventual buyer at a price of Rs 58 crore in 2012.
Based on these new findings, the ED had summoned Vadra for questioning and recorded his statement multiple times this year before arraying him as an accused.
Later, Vadra’s office released a statement to the media, asserting that the proceedings are “nothing more than an extension of the political witch hunt by the present government.”
“Mr. Robert Vadra is aware of reports suggesting that the Directorate of Enforcement has filed a prosecution complaint naming him as an Accused before the Rouse Avenue Courts, Delhi. As the court is yet to even take cognizance of the matter, Mr. Vadra has not had the opportunity to examine the prosecution complaint,” the statement said.
“As a law-abiding Indian citizen, Mr. Vadra has always and will continue to extend his fullest cooperation to the authorities and he is confident that at the end of it all, the truth will prevail and he will be cleared of any wrongdoing. The present proceedings are nothing more than an extension of the political witch hunt by the present government against Mr. Vadra. Mr. Vadra is looking forward to the opportunity to defend himself and clear his name in court,” it added.
This is an updated version of the report with press statement from Robert Vadra’s office
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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