Vadra's UK assets: ED approaches foreign officials

Widening its probe against Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi's husband Robert Vadra, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has asked its counterparts in the United Kingdom to share details of assets there which are claimed to have been acquired using laundered money.

The ED is working on the modalities to provisionally attach the assets in London and nearby areas by invoking the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), officials said.

Ownership details and financial transactions related to the purchase of around half-a-dozen immovable properties have been sought from the UK authorities, they said. The agency has also approached financial intelligence units of some countries to find out how the funds were transferred.

This comes even as the agency has questioned Vadra around a dozen times in connection with the investigation into the money laundering case linked to purchase of alleged illegal assets abroad.

According to the ED, the case relates to money laundering in the purchase of a London-based property -- located at 12, Bryanston Square -- worth 1.9 million pounds. Investigators had earlier claimed that it has information about various new properties in London which belongs to Vadra, including two houses of five and four million each, six other flats and more properties.

An NRI businessman C C Thampi has emerged as a link in the case. The ED has said that Thampi has been allegedly involved in hawala dealings and land purchase in 2017. Thampi has also questioned by the agency about his links with Vadra and absconding arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari.

Thampi is claimed to have met Vadra through an aide of his mother-in-law and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, while Vadra has reportedly told the ED that he met him on board an Emirates flight some years ago.