Fugitive economic offender tag for arms middleman Sanjay Bhandari

Sanjay Bhandari. File photo

A Delhi tribunal connected Saturday declared wanted London-based arms middleman Sanjay Bhandari (63) a “fugitive economical offender” (FEO). The order, which came connected a plea by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), allows the bureau to confiscate his assets worthy crores of rupees.

The tribunal ruled that portion the extradition effort of Indian agencies (for Bhandari) mightiness person failed — a UK tribunal earlier this twelvemonth discharged him from extradition proceedings — it didn’t marque him “angel oregon immune from the prosecution for the usurpation of Indian laws”. It said the FEO tag was different mode of “making 1 travel backmost to India to look proceedings by coercing him to instrumentality by attachment, confiscation of the properties” and “disentitling specified fugitive economical offenders from putting guardant oregon defending immoderate civilian claim”.

Deciding ED’s petition nether the FEO filed successful 2019, peculiar justice Sanjeev Aggarwal said successful his judgement that “this tribunal is satisfied that Sanjay Bhandari is simply a fugitive economical offender nether Section 12(1) of the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018, and is declared arsenic specified nether the supra provision(s)”.

Noting that Bhandari had wilfully refused to travel to India to look transgression prosecution, the justice said: “This tribunal is satisfied that the full worth of the docket offence is Rs 100 crores oregon much i.e. the docket to the contiguous FEO Act, which is Section 51 of the Black Money Act, is simply a requisite information for declaring an idiosyncratic an FEO”.

Rejecting Bhandari’s statement that the UK precocious tribunal bid made him eligible to enactment successful London and truthful the FEO won’t use to him, the justice further said: “The statement is without immoderate substance, arsenic the extradition nonaccomplishment volition not marque immoderate quality since the extradition of the accused was 1 of the means to bring the accused to India to look proceedings successful the said offence nether Section 51 of the Black Money Act.”

Bhandari had fled to London successful 2016, soon aft the Income Tax Department raided him successful Delhi. The ED had filed a transgression lawsuit against him and others nether the Prevention of Money Laundering Act successful February 2017, taking cognisance of an I-T Department chargesheet filed against him nether the anti-black wealth instrumentality of 2015.

With this, 16 persons, including liquor baron Vijay Mallya and diamond trader Nirav Modi, person truthful acold been declared FEOs by antithetic courts.