₹834.03 Crore Land Seizure: ED Targets EMAAR India Ltd And MGF Developments Ltd

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached immovable properties, spanning 401.65479 acres and valued at ₹834.03 crore, belonging to EMAAR India Ltd and MGF Developments Ltd, the agency said on Thursday.

Among these attached properties, EMAAR India Ltd’s assets are valued at approximately ₹501.13 crore, while MGF Developments Ltd’s assets are valued at around ₹332.69 crore.

ED’s Delhi-based unit attached the properties, which are in the form of land, located in 20 villages of Haryana’s Gurugram district and Delhi.

According to the ED, both EMAAR India Ltd and MGF Developments Ltd are being investigated for money laundering in connection with license no. 97/2010 dated September 18, 2010, obtained from the Department of Town and Country Planning (DTCP) for a Residential Plotted Colony in Sector-65 and 66 of Gurgaon.

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ED initiated the investigation based on an FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, and the 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 Limited, and 14 other colonizer companies.

The case involves cheating various landowners, the public at large, and the state of Haryana and 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 said colonizer companies at a lower price than the prevailing price before the notification under Section 4 of LA Act.

Additionally, the ED said, the accused fraudulently and dishonestly obtained the Letter of Intent (LOIs) and 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.

On June 2, 2009, the Haryana government issued a notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act 1894 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 approximately 850.10 acres of land out of 1417.07 acres on May 31, 2010. Therefore, during the period from June 2, 2009, to May 31, 2010, nearly 600 acres of land were released in patches from acquisition proceedings by the Haryana government for grant of LOIs and licenses.

On April 22, 2009, the joint venture of EMAAR Properties PJSC, Dubai, and MGF Developments Limited, which is EMAAR MGF Land Limited, applied for an LC-1 application for 112.46 acres of land for the grant of a license for the residential plotted colony in sectors 65 and 66 of Gurugram. 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 acres was granted to the company on May 31, 2010, after internal concurrence from the Haryana government.

ED said the license bearing no. 97/2010 was granted to EMAAR MGF Land Limited on November 18, 2019.

ED investigation revealed that EMAAR MGF Land Limited had executed six ante-dated development agreements with farmers for land measuring 27.306 acres, claiming that the said development agreements were executed in April 2009 but were, in reality, executed in March 2010.

The investigation further revealed that the so-called collaboration agreements were ante-dated and fabricated, wrongly shown to have been entered into before the notification under Section 4 was issued to avoid any complications in getting the license from the DTCP. Thus, EMAAR MGF Land Limited generated proceeds of crime in the form of a license on land measuring 25.887 acres, having a present value of ₹1229.17 crore.

ED investigation has 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 the impending fear of acquisition proceedings.

Later on, EMAAR MGF Land Limited was split into M/s EMAAR India Limited and MGF Developments Limited, having 60.11% and 39.89% share in combined properties. Thus, the immovable properties to the extent of ₹501.13 crore in respect of EMAAR India Ltd (60.11% of the remaining Proceeds of Crime) and ₹332.69 crore in respect of M/s MGF Developments Ltd (39.89% of the remaining PoC) have been provisionally attached.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Newsx staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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