Robert Vadra shifted blame to deceased persons: ED charge sheet
The businessman husband of Congress member of Parliament, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, has refused to recognise the person who actually signed on the ₹7.5 crore land deal in 2008, according to the charge sheet, reviewed by HT.
The financial crimes probe agency filed the charge sheet on July 17, naming Vadra, two other individuals and eight companies as accused under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, alleging that Vadra received proceeds of crime worth ₹58 crore in the Shikohpur deal. The agency also attached 43 immovable properties worth over ₹38 crore linked to him, including an apartment in the posh The Aralias in Gurugram.
It is alleged that SLHPL (Sky Light Hospitality Pvt Ltd), a company of Robert Vadra, purchased 3.53 acres of land in Shikohpur from Omkareshwar Properties Pvt Ltd (OPPL) on February 12, 2008, for ₹7.50 crore. Four years later, in September 2012, the company sold this 3.53-acre land to realty major DLF for ₹58 crore. The land deal got into controversy in October 2012 after IAS officer Ashok Khemka, then posted as the director general of Land Consolidation and Land Records-cum-Inspector-General of Registration of Haryana, cancelled the mutation of this, categorising the transaction as violative of the state consolidation act and some related procedures. Haryana police filed a case in the matter on September 1, 2018.
The son-in-law of former Congress president Sonia Gandhi was questioned by the agency on April 15 and 16 this year, and his statements to ED are part of the charge sheet. To most of the queries put up to him, Vadra has claimed that he 'acted on behest of the understanding and guidance of three people -- Late Rajesh Khurana, Late H L Pahwa and Late Mahesh Nagar -- in all real estate matters' and that he had 'no knowledge of real estate and technical details of real estate matters in the early years of 2008' as it was a new business for him.
Asserting that Robert Vadra has been evasive in his replies, ED's charge sheet says 'the documentary evidence collected during the course of investigation clearly establishes that Vadra is trying to mislead the investigation as he has put the entire onus with regards to purchase of land, seeking licence for commercial property on three deceased persons: Pahwa, Khurana and Nagar. On the contrary, the documentary evidence clearly provides that none of these persons were involved in the said transaction but the authorised persons were Sunil Kumar and Dhirendra Dadwal, the signatories on behalf of Sky Light Hospitality Pvt Ltd'.
Vadra, according to his statement, part of the charge sheet, said he didn't know Sunil Kumar and Dhirendra Dadwal.
The charge sheet against the businessman further states that Vadra created structures to launder the proceeds of crime generated from criminal activities. It said Vadra acquired the land in Shikohpur by undervaluing it and concealing the fact that the stamp duty was paid by the seller.
HT reached out to Vadra for a comment, but there was no response until the time of going to press. He has previously termed the action against him as nothing more than a 'political witch hunt.'
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