The
directorate of enforcement (ED) has provisionally attached 401.65 acres of land located in 20 villages, valued at Rs834.03 crore belonging to EMAAR India Ltd (Rs501.13 crore) and MGF Developments Ltd (Rs332.69 crore). The land is located across 20 villages of Gurugram, Haryana and Delhi.
ED is investigating EMAAR and MGF for money laundering in connection with licence no. 97/2010 dated 18 November 2010 obtained from the department of town and country planning (DTCP) for a residential plotted colony in Sectors 65 and 66 of Gurgaon.
In a release, ED says, "The case involves cheating various landowners, the public at large, and the state of Haryana and Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran (formerly Haryana Urban Development Authority -HUDA), by getting issued notification under section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (LA Act) and subsequently under section 6 of LA Act for the acquisition of lands of respective landowners which compelled landowners to sell their land to the coloniser companies at a lower price than the prevailing price before the notification under section 4 of LA Act."
"Additionally, they fraudulently and dishonestly obtained letters of intents (LOIs) or licenses on the notified land, causing loss to the respective landowners, the public at large, and the state of Haryana and HUDA, while wrongfully gaining for themselves," it added.
ED initiated an investigation based on a first information report (FIR) registered by central bureau of investigation (CBI) under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, against Bhupinder Singh Hooda, the then chief minister of Haryana, Trilok Chand Gupta, then director of DTCP, EMAAR MGF Land Ltd and 14 other coloniser companies.
"On 2 June 2009, the Haryana government issued a notification under section 4 of LA Act on 1417.07 acres of land comprising sectors 58 to 63 and 65 to 67 of Gurugram. Subsequently, a notification under section 6 was imposed on about 850.10 acres of land out of 1417.07 acres of land on 31 May 2010. Therefore, from 2 June 2009 to 31 May 2010, nearly 600 acres of land were released in patches from acquisition proceedings by the Haryana government for grant of LOIs and licenses," ED says.
On 22 April 2009, EMAAR MGF Land, the joint venture between EMAAR Properties PJSC, Dubai and MGF Developments, filed LC-1 application for 112.46 acres of land for grant of licence for residential plotted colony in sectors 65 and 66 of Gurugram and land measuring 70.406 acres which was notified under section 4 was released from acquisition proceedings by DTCP and subsequently LOI for land measuring 108.006 acre was granted to the company on 31/05/2010 after internal concurrence from the state government.
ED investigation revealed that EMAAR MGF Land had executed six antedated development agreements with farmers for land measuring 27.306 acres, claiming that the development agreements were executed in April 2009, but in reality they were executed in March 2010.
"Investigation further revealed that the so-called collaboration agreements were ante-dated and fabricated and wrongly shown to have been entered into before the notification under Section 4 was issued so as to avoid any complications in getting the license from the DTCP. Thus, EMAAR MGF Land generated proceeds of crime in the form of license on land measuring 25.887 acres having a present value of Rs1,229.17 crore," the agency says.
ED says its investigation revealed that the acquisition of land for HUDA was never the real intent. "It was only a scheme so that farmers who may or may not have sold their lands to builders otherwise were forced to give it to builders under the disguise of one or other agreement due to impending fear of acquisition proceedings."
Later, EMAAR MGF Land was split into EMAAR India and MGF Developments, which had 60.11% and 39.89% shares in combined properties. "Thus, the immovable properties to the extent of Rs501.13 crore in respect of EMAAR India (60.11% of the remaining PoC) and Rs332.69 crore in respect of MGF Developments (39.89% of the remaining PoC) have been provisionally attached," ED says.
