Swiss firm Pilatus paid Rs 300 cr bribe: ED

New Delhi, March 25 (IANS) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday stated in a Delhi court that investigations had established that Rs 300 crore were received as kickbacks from Swiss aerospace firm Pilatus, allegedly linked to Sanjay Bhandari, a close associate of Robert Vadra.

The ED stated this while opposing anticipatory bail plea of Vadra, brother-in-law of Congress President Rahul Gandhi, and his aide Manoj Arora in a case related to Vadra's ownership of overseas assets worth 1.9 million pounds and entities to evade tax.

The ED told Special Judge Arvind Kumar it has established the money trail of kickbacks, received from the deal between Pilatus and Samsung, during the UPA government.

The court listed the matter for March 27 and extended the interim protection from arrest to Vadra and Arora till the next hearing.

In a related development, the ED opposed Vadra's plea challenging certain provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in a case against him in the Delhi High Court.

Refusing any interim relief to Vadra, the Delhi High Court had asked the Centre and the ED to file their responses on Vadra's plea.

The ED said Vadra's plea was an abuse of the process of law and alleged he had wilfully suppressed material facts.

The high court has also asked Vadra to file a response on the ED affidavit and listed the matter for hearing on May 2.

The ED has questioned Vadra several times in the case. It has requested the trial court to dismiss his bail plea as it may require his custodial interrogation in the case.