Taking cognisance of a chargesheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari, the companies controlled by him and and his associates, a Special Court has directed the agency to expedite the extradition process pending against him in the United Kingdom.
The ED case is based on a complaint filed by the Income-Tax Department under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015. It is alleged that Mr. Bhandari had stashed ill-gotten wealth overseas to evade taxes.
According to the agency, Mr. Bhandari owned assets in various foreign jurisdictions and had set up multiple entities in the United Arab Emirates. He also had financial interests in an entity registered in Panama. The foreign assets were not disclosed to the Income-Tax authorities.
The ED alleges that Mr. Bhandari changed his shareholding pattern in the overseas companies, including Offset India Solutions FZC (later named Offset Solutions FZE), Santech International FZC, and Shamlan Gros-1 INC.
The accused maintained a foreign bank account in the name of Serra Dues Technologies, whose share capital was allegedly held by Wenham Major Limited as custodian, and subsequently transferred to one WWFL World Wide Holdings Limited. He also had 33.3% shares in Petro Global Technologies Limited (UAE), and was the beneficial owner of Vertex Management Holdings Limited from December 2009 to November 2012, the ED alleges.
The agency has identified at least two undisclosed assets in the UAE and London. Mr. Bhandari was trying to project that the foreign assets were held by him in fiduciary capacity as a trustee of some trust and for this purpose, Alrahma Trust (UAE) was identified by his associates. The accused tried to change the trust’s structure with retrospective effect using forged documents.
Mr. Bhandari had hired a Chartered Accountant, Sanjeev Kapoor, also mentioned in the chargesheet, at whose instance the former chose the UAE-based trust for managing the assets without detection. Mr. Kapoor allegedly identified Alrahma Trust through a client. He went to the UAE in July 2016 to meet the settler, and coordinated the payment of fee for making Mr. Bhandari a trustee.
In February 2017, the Chartered Accountant met Mr. Bhandari and one Sumit Chadha in the U.K. for the same purpose, the agency has alleged.
Through a separate application, the ED had earlier urged the court to declare Mr. Bhandari a fugitive under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act. This will facilitate the confiscation of his assets if he does not turn up in person to face legal proceedings.
