Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra is set to appear before the Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday for questioning in a case of alleged money laundering. Vadra was granted interim bail till February 16 last week. Senior Advocate KTS Tulsi, Vadra’s lawyer, had informed the court that he will join investigation in the case filed by ED on February 6.
The case relates to the alleged purchase of a London-based property worth 1.9 million pounds by Vadra. Last week, a Delhi court had granted interim bail to Vadra and directed him to appear before the ED and cooperate in the investigation. The court had issued a notice to the ED and sought their stand on Vadra’s plea by next date of hearing. Court also directed Vadra’s counsel to furnish a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh and a surety of like amount.
The agency told the court that it had received information about several properties of Vadra in London including two houses, six flats and more properties.
Tulsi, while arguing for Vadra, submitted that his client is being targeted for political gains and is being subjected to false prosecution. On the other hand, ED opposed the interim bail and said that during the interrogation of Manoj Arora, Vadra’s close aide, it was found that various property were purchased in London through petroleum contract.
While opposing the interim bail, ED’s counsel D P Singh and Nitesh Rana said that during the interrogation of Manoj Arora, an aide of Vadra, it was learnt that kickbacks were received in the 2009 petroleum contract, which were used to buy various properties in London, The Indian Express reported.
The case pertains to alleged wrongdoing in a deal of a London-based property worth 1.9 million pounds. The ED had filed a money laundering case against Arora after his role surfaced during the probe of another case by the IT Department.
On December 7, ED had as part of its investigation, conducted searches at a number of premises in Delhi-NCR and Bengaluru.