London, Jul 14 (PTI) Sanjay Bhandari, an arms deals consultant wanted in India to face money laundering and tax evasion charges, appeared for a hearing in his extradition case in London on Thursday.

District Judge Michael Snow presided over the procedural hearing at Westminster Magistrates Court, which was part heard in a closed session and is believed to cover some sensitive issues.

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The extradition case was part heard in March this year to address the government of India's prima facie against Bhandari, 60, and will return for a final set of hearings at the end of September.

The open part of the hearing addressed how the evidence to be presented at the next set of hearings will be handled.

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Ben Lloyd, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) barrister appearing on behalf of the Indian authorities, told the court that the accused had described the extradition case against him as a “political witch-hunt” and the allegations as “baseless and fabricated”.

Bhandari's barrister, James Stansfeld, said he was keen to protect against the minutiae of any evidence reopening the prima facie case arguments already addressed earlier this year.

“To second guess the evidence at this stage is undesirable,” Judge Snow concluded.

Bhandari, who is now based in London, 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).

He 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. He denies the allegations.

The CPS case is that Bhandari's conduct amounts to "fraud by false representation" in the British jurisdiction. The Indian government's extradition request in the case had been certified by UK Home Secretary Priti Patel in June 2020.

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