A day after the Income Tax Department’s summons to controversial arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari, the Enforcement Directorate followed the suit on Thursday, directing him to provide details of all his property and financial transactions for the past eight years. It is expected that Bhandari would be probed for violations of FEMA and PMlA provisions.
The ED’s action came after Income Tax’s Investigation Division had shared with it the details of properties and companies floated by Bhandari in london, Dubai, the British Virgin Island, and Panama.
It is expected that the agencies would summon Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra soon after the interrogation of Bhandari. There are email trails between the two in connection with the purchase of a Rs 19-crore house in london in 2009.
Sources indicated that the CBI will swing into action against Bhandari after clearance from the Defence Ministry. During the raid on April 26, I-T sleuths had unearthed Defence Ministry-related files from Bhandari’s home and office. This may lead to slapping of the Official Secrets Act, after the nod from the Defence Ministry, they said.
Meanwhile, Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju came out in defence of his besieged aide Appa Rao for his alleged contacts with Bhandari, saying that he has “confidence” in him and that the charges can be verified. Rao’s name too has cropped up in the controversy involving Bhandari.
“If anyone has clandestine deal with me, I want to know how they had it. It is my job to see that there is nothing clandestine going on, it is simply that. As long as I have confidence in him (Rao), he is there because he is my appointee,” Raju told news channels.
“What is the allegation against himIJ That he has spoken so many times. That (allegation) is verifiable. And it will be verified...My personal staff, I am responsible for them, I choose them. If my personal staff has done something, it is my personal responsibility. I am supposed to be there, they are accountable to me. I am very clear on that,” Raju said.
According to investigation agencies, Bhandari was constantly in touch with Rao, who is Raju’s Officer on Special Duty (OSD), and allegedly made some 355 calls to him, a charge denied by Rao who insisted that the relationship was only “professional”.
It was a professional relationship..He (Bhandari) came to meet the minister 3-4 times, in the last one-and-a-half years. ..It was only a professional relation. We got an acquaintance for the first time at the Bangalore Air show. He (Bhandari) had invited the minister to see his stall. Minister went and saw it. I don’t have any personal relationship,” Rao said.
Investigating agencies have, meanwhile, also indicated that a senior editor too has been found to be a frequent caller in the call detail records of the arms dealer.