UK-based arms consultant Sanjay Bhandari declared fugitive economic offender

A Delhi court on Saturday declared UKbased 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 rupeesDistrict Judge Tis Hazari Sanjeev Aggarwal said in his order the court was satisfied that Sh Sanjay Bhandari So Late Sh R K Bhandari is a fugitive economic offender under section 121 of the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act 2018 and is declared as such under the above provisions of the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act 2018The 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 extraditionBhandaris legal team while opposing the EDs move to get him declared a fugitive offender claimed that its clients 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 wrongThe 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 lawsThe 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 saidTherefore the 100page 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 ActBhandari 63 fled to London in 2016 soon after the incometax IT department raided him in DelhiThe ED filed a criminal case against Bhandari and others under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act PMLA in February 2017 taking cognisance of an IT department chargesheet filed against him under the antiblack money law of 2015The 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 ActIn any case those who play with fire should be known to be aware of its consequences it saidThe 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 croreThe ED filed its first chargesheet against him in 2020The agency has also been probing Bhandaris links with Robert Vadra the businessman husband of Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi VadraThe 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 VadraVadra has denied owning any London property directly or indirectly He has termed these charges a political witchhunt against him and claimed that he is being hounded and harassed to subserve political endsWith 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 courtsThe FEO Act was brought by the BJPled 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 croreBhandari 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 allegationsBhandaris assets worth about Rs 21 crore have been attached by the ED under the PMLAThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever