New Delhi, Aug 10 (NationPress) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has requested a maximum sentence of seven years of rigorous imprisonment for Robert Vadra and others involved in the controversial 2008 Gurugram land deal, according to the prosecution complaint submitted by the agency at a Special PMLA court in Delhi.

The agency is also demanding the government to confiscate 43 immovable properties allegedly obtained by Vadra and others through Proceeds of Crime (PoC) derived from money laundering.

The Special PMLA court in Delhi has scheduled August 28 to acknowledge the ED's complaint and has issued a notice to Vadra.

In detailing the method of generating PoC through money laundering in the land deal, the ED alleged that Vadra, the husband of Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and other accused individuals committed a criminal act of dishonest or fraudulent execution of a deed of transfer containing false statements as per Section 423 of the Indian Penal Code.

In its prosecution complaint submitted to the Special PMLA court in Delhi, the ED is advocating for the maximum sentence of seven years for Vadra and the other accused under Section 4 (Punishment for money laundering) and has suggested penal action for the fraudulent execution of the deed.

“The deed of transfer was executed with misleading statements regarding the receipt of sale consideration by the seller from the buyer and the total amount of consideration, thereby breaching the provisions of Section 423 of IPC. The buyer never issued the cheque to the seller, and the cheque referenced in the sale deed was not linked to the buyer,” stated the chargesheet.

Claiming a loss of Rs 44 lakh to the Haryana government in stamp duty, the ED argued: “The sale deed cites the valuation of the land at Rs 7.50 crore, while the seller received Rs 7.95 crore on August 9, 2008 (for the sale consideration and stamp duty); and Rs 7.43 crore on August 16, 2008 (additional sale consideration). The undervaluation of the land resulted in evading stamp duty.”

Previously, the ED defended its decision to file the PMLA case in the Special Court in Delhi, asserting that all accused, except for one, reside in Delhi, and all entities linked to the accused involved in the money laundering process are registered in Delhi jurisdiction.

The FIR for this case was filed by Gurugram Police. However, the money laundering offences occurred at various locations across states including Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, and Rajasthan.

“Furthermore, most of the bank accounts of the entities associated with Vadra, identified as accused number 1, are also located in Delhi and were utilized by the accused to acquire assets or satisfy liabilities of companies registered in Delhi,” it noted.

The ED stated that Vadra received Rs 58 crore as proceeds of crime (PoC) stemming from the money laundering activities and claimed its investigation led to the provisional attachment of 43 immovable properties, valued at Rs 38.69 crore, identified as directly or equivalently related to Proceeds of Crime.

In seeking the confiscation of the 43 immovable properties, the ED concluded: “The complaint is filed with the request to penalize the accused under Section 4 (Punishment for money laundering), which entails rigorous imprisonment for three to seven years, alongside the confiscation of the properties obtained by the accused as proceeds of crime.”