Terming the agency's move to summon him as 'political vendetta', Vadra said he has spent hours with the ED earlier during questioning in separate money laundering cases, sharing thousands of pages but still the agency has been raking up cases against him
Sources said the agency recorded Robert Vadra's statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for about two hours. Pic/PTI
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday recorded the statement of businessman Robert Vadra for about five hours in a 2008 Haryana land deal-linked money laundering case, official sources said. Vadra is the husband of Wayanad Lok Sabha lawmaker Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and the brother-in-law of Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi.
According to PTI, Vadra has been asked to depose again on Wednesday for the questioning.
Terming the agency's move to summon him as "political vendetta", the 56-year-old said he has spent hours with the ED earlier during questioning in separate money laundering cases, sharing thousands of pages but still the agency has been raking up cases against him.
Around 11 am on Tuesday, he entered the ED office, located on APJ Abdul Kalam Road, after walking a two-km stretch from his residence at Sujan Singh Park in the national capital. He was accompanied by his lawyer while his security team stayed out, PTI reported.
Speaking to reporters on the way to the ED office, he alleged, "This is nothing but political vendetta. Whenever I speak for minorities they try to stop me, crush us... they tried to stop Rahul (Gandhi) in Parliament too. This is misuse of agencies and this is political vendetta," adding "I will cooperate with them like in the past."
Sources said the agency recorded his statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for about two hours.
2008 Haryana land deal: Robert Vadra was first summoned on April 8 but sought a fresh date
After coming out of the ED office for lunch around 1.30 pm, Vadra told reporters that while he was ready to cooperate with the investigation there needed to be a closure.
"How can you be talking about something that happened in 2007?" he asked.
According to PTI, Vadra left the ED office around 6.30 pm.
Sources informed that he was first summoned in the case on April 8 but he did not depose and sought a fresh date.
The probe against Vadra is linked to a deal in Manesar-Shikohpur (now sector 83) in Gurugram.
It was done on February 2008 by a company named Skylight Hospitality Pvt Ltd, where Vadra was a director earlier, as it purchased a 3.5 acre in Shikohpur from a firm named Onkareshwar Properties at a price of Rs 7.5 crore. A Congress government led by chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda was in power in the state at the time.
2008 Haryana land deal: FIR filed in the case in 2018
In September 2012, the company sold this land to realty major DLF for Rs 58 crore.
However, a month later, controversy erupted after Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Ashok Khemka, then posted as the director general of Land Consolidation and Land Records-cum-Inspector-General of Registration of Haryana, cancelled the mutation of this, categorising the transaction as violative of state consolidation Act and some related procedures.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which was in the opposition in the state then, had called this case an instance of "corruption" in land deals and that of "nepotism" hinting at Vadra's kinship with the first family of the Congress party.
In 2018, the Haryana Police under the BJP Government had filed a first information report (FIR) to probe the deal.
Since then, Vadra has been questioned multiple times by the federal probe agency in two different money laundering cases.
Meanwhile, in December 2023, the ED filed a charge sheet against a United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based businessman, CC Thampi, who is allegedly linked to Vadra, and Sumit Chadha, a relative of UK-based arms consultant Sanjay Bhandari. The central agency said it was probing the purchase of three plots of land in Haryana during 2005-06 by Vadra from a real estate agent along with a land deal made by his wife Priyanka.
2008 Haryana land deal: Robert Vadra, Priyanka not named in ED charge sheet
Neither Vadra nor Priyanka were named as accused in the charge sheet.
According to ED, Thampi had purchased about 486 acres between 2005 and 2008 in Amirpur village in Faridabad in Haryana through HL Pahwa, a real estate agent based in Delhi-NCR (National Capital Region).
"It is imperative to mention that Robert Vadra also purchased three pieces of land measuring 334 kanals (40.08 acres) in Amirpur from H L Pahwa from 2005-2006 and sold the same land to H L Pahwa in December 2010," it said in the charge sheet.
"Further, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra wife of Robert Vadra also purchased agricultural land measuring 40 kanal (05 acres) in village Amirpur, district Faridabad, Haryana, from H L Pahwa in April 2006 and sold the same land to H L Pahwa in February 2010," the ED stated.
It said that "Pahwa was receiving cash out of the books for the purpose of acquisition of land."
"It was also noticed that Robert Vadra did not pay the entire consideration to Pahwa. The investigation in this regard is still ongoing," the ED had said.
(With PTI inputs)
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