ED asks UK agency to give info on Vadra-linked assets

New Delhi: Trouble seems to be brewing for Robert Vadra as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has requested its UK counterparts to share details of ownership and related financial transactions of over half-a-dozen assets there that the agency claimed were acquired using laundered money.

The central probe agency has also sought help from financial intelligence units of some countries to unravel the flow of funds used to buy these assets, sources said. The agency is preparing a blueprint to provisionally attach these immovable assets in London and nearby areas under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), they added.

Vadra, who is the brother-in-law of Congress president Rahul Gandhi, has been questioned multiple times by the ED with regard to a London-based property located at 12, Bryanston Square worth 1.9 million GBP (British pounds), which it claims is allegedly owned by him. Sources claimed the agency has evidence that some more assets in the United Kingdom are linked to Vadra. These include two houses — one worth 5 million GBP and the other valued at 4 million GBP, and six flats.

The ED, sources said, has detected some alleged undisclosed transactions being made from Cyprus and Dubai for the purchase of these assets by people allegedly linked to Vadra. Questioning of Vadra on his links to these assets has not got the agency much leads. It now wants to put Vadra through sustained interrogation.