World News | Indian Authorities Accused of 'misleading' UK Court in Sanjay Bhandari Extradition

London, Mar 7 (PTI) The extradition hearing of Sanjay Bhandari, an accused middleman and consultant in arms deals wanted in India to face trial on tax evasion and money laundering allegations, was told on Monday that the Indian authorities were "misleading" the UK court in the matter.

Harpreet Singh Giani, a dual qualified lawyer in India and the UK, said there was an attempt within the extradition request to “obfuscate” and a conscious attempt to “cherry pick” facts in an attempt to weave a case under the statute.

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Asked by District Judge Michael Snow at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London on day three of the hearing if it was his view that the Indian government was “deliberately trying to mislead this court”, he replied: “yes”.

“I am here to explain to the best of my ability what Indian law says… I am not here to judge their [Indian authorities] actions or to attribute motives,” said Giani, who was being deposed as an expert on Indian law by Bhandari's legal team led by barrister James Stansfeld.

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Ben Lloyd, appearing for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) on behalf of the Indian government, countered the assertions to highlight that the UK court is only concerned with establishing that the accused has a case to answer in India.

"(Any) allegations against the defendant, whoever is right or wrong, will be resolved by the court in India,” Lloyd noted, as he took Giani through his two written reports submitted as evidence to the court.

At the start of the hearing, the judge flagged that Giani also sits as a Justice of the Peace, or magistrate, at the same London court. It was mutually agreed that his role in the UK courts did not conflict with his role as an "expert" on Indian legal proceedings. The court also heard that the advocate is currently pursuing a PhD in India on the flight of “dirty money”.

Bhandari, 60, who is now based in London, has been present in court for the hearing. He remains on bail on a security provided to the court as he fights extradition on cases against him by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED).

The extradition hearing opened last Thursday, when the court heard from the CPS of the threshold being “relatively low” to establish a prima facie case and not having to prove every point as if it were a trial.

Bhandari is wanted in India for intended prosecution for an offence of money laundering contrary to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) 2002 and for offences of tax evasion contrary to the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Asset) and Imposition of Tax Act 2015.

Bhandari, who was resident in India for tax purposes at the time in 2015, is accused of concealing overseas assets, using backdated documents, benefiting from the assets not declared to the Indian tax authorities and then falsely informing the authorities that he did not possess any overseas assets.

The CPS case is that his conduct amounts to "fraud by false representation" in the British jurisdiction. It has taken the UK court through several documents to show that there were companies linked with Bhandari outside India, bank accounts abroad used to receive money, deposits in the bank accounts of certain shell companies and details of properties in Dubai and the UK.

The extradition hearing set to conclude this week is intended to address the prima facie case against the accused, with other legal objections to extradition expected to be taken up at a later hearing.

The Indian government's extradition request for Bhandari had been certified by UK Home Secretary Priti Patel on June 16 and he was arrested a month later in London on July 15, 2020.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)