The Enforcement Directorate has provisionally attached immovable properties worth about ₹834.03 crore belonging to EMAAR India Limited and MGF Developments Limited in connection with an alleged corruption case against the then Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and others, it said on Thursday (August 29, 2024).
The attached assets of EMAAR India Limited (valued over ₹501 crore) and MGF Developments Limited (valued over ₹332 crore) are spread across 401.65 acres. They are in the form of land located in 20 villages of Gurugram and Delhi, said the agency.
“Both EMAAR India Ltd. And MGF Developments Ltd. are being investigated for money laundering in connection with licence no. 97/2010 dated November 18, 2010, obtained from the Department of Town and Country Planning (DTCP) for residential plotted colony falling in Sector-65 and 66 of (erstwhile) Gurgaon,” it said.
The ED said its probe is based on a First Information Report registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation against Mr. Hooda, Trilok Chand Gupta, then DTCP Director; EMAAR MGF Land Limited and 14 other developers.
As alleged, the accused persons compelled the owners and (formerly) Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) by getting issued a notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, and subsequently under Section 6 of Act for the acquisition of lands of the respective landowners, which compelled them to sell their land to the said coloniser companies at a rate lower than the prevailing price.
“Additionally, they fraudulently and dishonestly obtained Letter of Intents (LOIs)/licences on the notified land, causing loss to the respective landowners, the public at large, and the State of Haryana/HUDA, while wrongfully gaining for themselves,” the agency said.
The Haryana government had issued the notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act on June 2, 2009, with respect to 1,417.07 acres of land falling under sectors 58 to 63 and 65 to 67 of Gurugram. Subsequently, another notification under Section 6 was imposed on about 850.10-acre land on May 31, 2010.
“Therefore, during the intervening period nearly 600-acre land was released in patches from the acquisition proceedings by the Haryana government for grant of LOIs/licences,” an official said.
The agency alleged that on April 22, 2009, a joint venture of EMAAR Properties PJSC, Dubai, and MGF Developments Limited, i.e. EMAAR MGF Land Limited, applied for 112.46 acres of land for licence to develop a residential plotted colony in sectors 65 and 66 of Gurugram. Land measuring 70.406 acres notified under Section 4 was released from the acquisition proceedings by the DTCP and subsequently LOI for over 108-acre land granted to the company on May 31, 2010. The licence was granted to EMAAR MGF Land Limited on November 18, 2019.
According to the ED, EMAAR MGF Land Limited had executed six ante-dated development agreements with farmers for land measuring 27.306 acres claiming that those agreements were executed in April 2009. However, “in reality they were executed in March 2010...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 licence from DTCP”.
Based on the findings, the ED has alleged that EMAAR MGF Land Limited generated proceeds of crime in the form of licence on land measuring 25.887 acres having present value of ₹1,229.17 crore. “...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 the builders under one or the other agreement due to the impending fear of acquisition proceedings,” it alleged.
Later, EMAAR MGF Land Limited was split into EMAAR India Limited and MGF Developments Limited having 60.11% and 39.89% respective shares in the combined properties.
Last month, the ED had provisionally attached immovable properties spanning 88.29 acre and worth about ₹300.11 crore belonging to M3M India Infrastructures Private Limited in the same case.
