Robert Vadra made misleading claims in plea challenging trial court summons in Gurugram land case, ED tells Delhi High Court
After hearing ED"s submissions, Court Justice Manoj Jain adjourned the matter to May 18
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The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday, May 14, told the Delhi High Court that entrepreneur and Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi's husband, Robert Vadra, made false and incorrect statements in his plea challenging the trial court order taking cognisance of a money laundering case against him.
"This Vadra's plea needs to go with costs. I have done an exercise of pulling out all the bare acts. Complete false submissions. Section 467 IPC was there in its original inception in the PMLA schedule. Ex facie, false and incorrect statements are made. Completely false statements," Hossain submitted.
He said that these issues of jurisdiction and retrospective application were raised before the trial court, but have not been dealt with. After hearing ED's submissions, Justice Manoj Jain adjourned the matter to May 18. "Mr Singhvi, please come prepared on this aspect on Monday [May 18] because that is your central plank. We will hear you on Monday," the Court said.
Four years later, after the license was issued, the land was sold to DLF for Rs 58 crores. Around 350 acres of land in Wazirabad, Gurugram, was also allegedly wrongly allotted to DLF, due to which it earned a profit of around Rs 5,000 crores.
The trial court had, on April 16, taken cognisance of the case and issued a summons to Vadra in relation to ED's case over certain land deals in Gurugram. Advocate Zoheb Hossain appeared for the ED and challenged Vadra's argument that the offences of which he has been accused in the predicate offence were added to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) schedule after the commission of the alleged offence between 2008 and 2012.
"This Vadra's plea needs to go with costs. I have done an exercise of pulling out all the bare acts. Complete false submissions. Section 467 IPC was there in its original inception in the PMLA schedule. Ex facie, false and incorrect statements are made. Completely false statements," Hossain submitted.
Earlier, Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi appeared for Vadra and said that certain IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act offences in the case were added to the PMLA schedule after the alleged commission of the offence.
He said that these issues of jurisdiction and retrospective application were raised before the trial court, but have not been dealt with. After hearing ED's submissions, Justice Manoj Jain adjourned the matter to May 18. "Mr Singhvi, please come prepared on this aspect on Monday [May 18] because that is your central plank. We will hear you on Monday," the Court said.
The case concerns a 2008 land transaction in Gurugram, where a company linked to Vadra acquired 3.5 acres of land for Rs 7.5 crores through a fraudulent sale deed without making the declared payment at the time of registration. It is alleged that the land was given as a bribe so that Vadra could get a housing license in the same village using his influence over the then Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.
Four years later, after the license was issued, the land was sold to DLF for Rs 58 crores. Around 350 acres of land in Wazirabad, Gurugram, was also allegedly wrongly allotted to DLF, due to which it earned a profit of around Rs 5,000 crores.