The agency alleged that false declarations were made in the land acquisition and claimed that a commercial license was obtained through his personal influence
The agency’s counsel, Zoheb Hossain, urged a bench of justice Manoj Jain to dismiss the petition with costs. He countered the submissions made by Vadra’s lawyer, AM Singhvi, that the ED lacked jurisdiction to initiate a money laundering case against his client since the offences alleged against him under the Indian Penal Code and Prevention of Corruption Act were not scheduled offences at the time when the offence was committed.
Singhvi had argued that the land deal admittedly happened between 2008-2012, whereas the offences including sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 423 (dishonest or fraudulent execution of deed of transfer containing false statement of consideration), 467 (Forgery of valuable security, will, etc) of the Indian Penal Code and section 13 (criminal misconduct by a public servant) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, which formed the basis for ED’s case were only included as scheduled offence in the PMLA in 2013 and 2018.
To be sure, a scheduled offence is an offence listed in the Schedule attached to the PMLA, and if money or property is generated from any such offence, the ED can invoke the PMLA. Hossain, however, submitted that this contention was incorrect and a “complete false statement in law”.
“The petition is based on false submissions and must be dismissed with costs. It is a gross case of false submissions. Section 467 was there in its original inception. Even a notice on a petition where a false submission has been made has to go. There is a complete false statement on law,” Hossain submitted.
Considering the contention, the court adjourned the petition challenging the trial court’s April 15 order for May 18 and asked Singhvi to come prepared on the aspect. “Singhvi, please come prepared on this aspect on Monday, because that is your central plank. We will hear you on Monday,” the court said.
The summons were issued after the court of special judge Sushant Changotra (Rouse Avenue) took cognisance of the ED’s charge sheet filed in the case in July last year. The court asked the accused to appear before it on May 16.
The allegations in the case pertain to a 3.53-acre plot of land in Shikohpur, Gurugram. The ED alleged that Robert Vadra’s firm, Sky Light Hospitality, fraudulently purchased the land from Onkareshwar Properties on February 12, 2008. It named Robert Vadra among the accused.
The agency alleged that false declarations were made in the land acquisition and claimed that a commercial license was obtained through his personal influence. The agency’s lawyer argued before the trial court that the ₹7.5 crores shown as payment for the land was through a cheque that was never encashed. The ED claimed the land was later sold to DLF for a higher amount.
The ED issued a provisional order in July last year, attaching 43 immovable properties valued at around ₹37.64 crore as part of the case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).