ED grills Vadra, called again today

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 7

AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi’s husband Robert Vadra today again appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which questioned him for about nine hours.

Sources in the ED said Vadra was asked to come again on Saturday as “he was needed to answer more questions” on allegedly acquiring immovable assets in the United Kingdom.

During the questioning, Vadra was “confronted with” documents that the agency had obtained and seized during the course of its investigation into alleged laundering of money to purchase illegal foreign assets and also those linked to absconding defence dealer Sanjay Bhandari.

Vadra arrived at the ED office around 11.25 am, about an hour after his team of lawyers reached there. After two hours of questioning, he left for lunch and returned about an hour later to resume the session.

Besides documents, ED officials posed about two dozen questions to Vadra over two days. Robert Vadra’s statement is being recorded under Section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, as was done yesterday.

It is learnt that during his stay at the ED office, Vadra also shared documents with investigating officer and has assured some more would be provided as and when he got them.

Vadra’s lawyer KTS Tulsi claimed his client had not committed any wrongdoing.

The ED case against Vadra relates to allegations of money laundering in the purchase of a London-based property located at 12, Bryanston Square worth £1.9 million, which is allegedly owned by him. Vadra has so far denied the allegations of possessing illegal foreign assets and termed them a political witch hunt against him.