The Delhi High Court on Monday sought response from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Robert Vadra’s plea seeking quashing of a money laundering case.
ED opposed Mr. Vadra’s plea to quash an enforcement case investigation report (ECIR) against him saying it was not maintainable as he “wilfully suppressed” the most crucial and material facts from the court.
The ED’s case against Mr. Vadra relates to a money laundering case in alleged purchase of a London-based property worth 1.9 million pounds.
A Bench of Justice Hima Kohli and Justice Vinod Goel asked ED to submit an affidavit regarding the maintainability of petition by Mr. Vadra and a similar plea by his close aide Manoj Arora within two weeks.
ED represented by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta asked the court not to grant relief to Mr. Vadra and Mr. Arora. “Let me file an affidavit to show that the petitioners (Mr. Vadra and Mr. Arora) are in suppression and not interested to reach to the root of the matter,” he argued.
Mr. Vadra, apart from challenging the ECIR, has also questioned the Constitutional validity of certain sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.
In his petition, Mr. Vadra has alleged that the ECIR was registered in order to ‘harass and humiliate’ him. He submitted that till now he has not been provided with a coy of the ECIR despite repeated request.
Mr. Vadra had sought a direction to not take any coercive step against him till the pendency of his petition before the High Court.
But the Bench said he has already been granted interim protection by the trial court. It further asked why Mr. Vadra was challenging the PMLA before the High Court when the Supreme Court was seized of various pleas seeking similar relief.
Mr. Vadra, in petition, contended that though the investigating agencies had probed the land deals in Rajasthan and Haryana, they did not found anything against him or his firms.
“However, in order to harass and humiliate the petitioners, another ECIR was registered into the same deals. It was in this wake of the matter that Rajasthan High Court directed that no coercive steps will be taken against the petitioner,” the plea said.
The High Court has posted the case for further hearing on May 2.
