The order has come as a shot in the arm for the federal probe agency as it will now be able to confiscate assets worth crores of rupees of Bhandari, whose chances to come to India have been virtually nullified after a UK court recently ruled against his extradition
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A Delhi court on Saturday declared UK-based arms consultant Sanjay Bhandari a fugitive economic offender on a plea from the Enforcement Directorate (ED), an order that will allow the agency to confiscate all his assets that are worth crores of rupees.
District Judge (Tis Hazari) Sanjeev Aggarwal said in his order the court was satisfied that "Sh. Sanjay Bhandari, S/o Late Sh. R K Bhandari, is a fugitive economic offender under section 12(1) of the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018 and is declared as such under the above provision(s) of the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018".
The order has come as a shot in the arm for the federal probe agency as it will now be able to confiscate assets worth crores of rupees of Bhandari, whose chances to come to India have been virtually nullified after a UK court recently ruled against his extradition.
Bhandari's legal team, while opposing the ED's move to get him declared a fugitive offender, claimed that its "client's stay could not be called illegal in the UK as he has a legal right to reside in the UK and the GOI is bound by the judgment of the UK court.... Bhandari is legally living there, and declaring him a 'fugitive' in that scenario is legally wrong".
The court said the "extradition attempt may have failed, but it will not make the accused an 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 a fugitive economic offender and proceeds of crime and by disentitling such a fugitive economic offender from putting forward or defending any civil claim," it said.
Therefore, the 100-page order said the Fugitive Economic Offenders (FEO) Act is in the nature of coercion, saying that if one does not come back, the government will confiscate and seize all his assets once he has been shown or declared as a fugitive economic offender, in accordance with the provisions of the Act.
Bhandari (63) fled to London in 2016, soon after the income-tax (I-T) department raided him in Delhi.
The ED filed a criminal case against Bhandari and others under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in February 2017, taking cognisance of an I-T department chargesheet filed against him under the anti-black money law of 2015.
The court said when an accused 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 known to be aware of its consequences," it said.
The court held that the undisclosed foreign income or assets of Bhandari were worth Rs 655 crore and the total tax evaded by him, including penalty and interest, was Rs 196 crore.
The ED filed its first chargesheet against him in 2020.
The agency has also been probing Bhandari's links with Robert Vadra, the businessman husband of Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
The ED filed a supplementary chargesheet in the case in 2023, alleging that Bhandari "acquired" the 12, Bryanston Square house located 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".
Vadra has denied owning any London property directly or indirectly. He has termed these charges a political witch-hunt against him and claimed that he is being "hounded and harassed" to subserve political ends.
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.
The FEO Act was brought by the BJP-led government in 2018 to bring to justice those who have left India to evade the clutches of the law after committing fraud with a benchmark value of at least Rs 100 crore.
Bhandari, who was a resident in India for tax purposes in 2015, is also accused of concealing overseas assets using backdated documents, benefitting from the assets not declared to Indian tax authorities and then falsely informing the authorities that he did not possess any overseas assets. He, however, has denied these allegations.
Bhandari's assets worth about Rs 21 crore have been attached by the ED under the PMLA.
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