The Defence Ministry of India suspended the business dealings with Sanjay Bhandari’s firm Offset India Solutions for six months. The arms dealer Bhandari has reportedly escaped to the United Kingdom. He has been under the radar of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Income Tax Department.
Bhandari is accused of allegedly holding a ‘benami’ property in London. A ‘benami’ property is when the real beneficiary is not the one whose name is on the property papers. The person whose name is on the papers is just a way to hide the real beneficiary.
On the 27th of December last year, the Enforcement Directorate seized assets worth a whopping Rs. 26.61 crore from Bhandari and a few others. The money was seized for holding undisclosed assets abroad.
The assets were undisclosed deposits in foreign bank accounts in the UAE. The deposits were in different foreign currency denominations. The assets also included beneficial ownership of companies incorporated in the UAE. The remaining assets were three flats, one in Palms Jumeirah in Dubai and two in the United Kingdom.
The investigation so far has found suspicious funds from shell companies. The officials reported to have tracked routing of funds to Bhandari’s companies via accommodation entries by these shell companies.
In 2016, the Delhi Police registered a case against Bhadari for possessing confidential Defence Ministry documents in his South Delhi Defence Colony house. He was booked under the Official Secrets Act (OSA.)
The Delhi Police in 2016 registered a case against Bhandari under the Official Secrets Act (OSA) in connection with the recovery of confidential Defence Ministry documents from his house in South Delhi’s Defence Colony.
In October 2017, this case took a shocking turn when Bhandari accepted to working with Robert Vadra who is married to Priyanka Gandhi. This caused a huge blow to the Gandhi family. The Enforcement Directorate managed to find an email exchange where Robert Vadra booked a flight ticket for Bhandari. This raised suspicion as it was at a time when Bhandari was being investigated for an illegal arms deal.
