The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has seized assets worth over ₹26.61 crore of defence dealer Sanjay Bhandari, his wife and companies, under the Foreign Exchange Management Act.
The seizure was part of a probe into allegations that he acquired assets worth ₹150 crore overseas, including in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the United Kingdom. The assets, including jewellery, have been seized in lieu of the properties held abroad.
Mr. Bhandari is also being probed by the Income-Tax Department under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act.
Flees country via Nepal
The ED had summoned him for recording his statement. But he did not turn up and also avoided some of the summonses issued by the I-T Department before he vanished. The I-T Department impounded his passport to prevent his travel abroad but he managed to flee the country via Nepal.
The Delhi Police had registered a case against him under the Official Secrets Act in October last year after income tax officials allegedly seized secret documents from his Defence Colony residence.
The agencies have strong reasons to believe that the accused had shifted a significant part of his assets to the ownership of a Dubai-based trust. He is also a beneficiary in some companies in the UAE. The Directorate has so far identified two properties in the U.K. and one in the UAE, which were acquired by him.
