Cong Rubbishes Charge, Says It’s Politically Driven
New Delhi: India Against Corruption (IAC) activists Prashant Bhushan and Arvind Kejriwal on Friday alleged that realty giant DLF gave properties, currently valued at around Rs 500 crore, to Sonia Gandhi’s son-inlaw Robert Vadra at grossly undervalued rates in exchange for favours it allegedly received from Congress state governments in Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi.
The allegations attracted a sharp response from Congress leaders who accused the activists of “blackmail” and claimed they were violating the basic principles of decency. The leaders sought to downplay these allegations, saying they were based on papers that have been in the public domain. They spoke of “teaching a lesson” to “irresponsible” activists.
Bhushan and Kejriwal, who launched a political party on Monday, told a crowded press conference here that five companies promoted by Robert Vadra and his mother, Maureen Vadra, with a combined share capital of Rs 50 lakh, and with no obvious revenue stream, acquired at least 31 properties in the three states between 2007 and 2010 after getting an unsecured, interest-free loan of Rs 65 crore from DLF. Priyanka Gandhi was also initially a director in the companies, but quit soon, they said.
They claimed the Vadras acquired all the properties—the 114-room Hilton Garden Inn Hotel in South Delhi, a penthouse in DLF Aralias and 7 flats in DLF Magnolia in Gurgaon, an apartment in Capital Greens, a plot in Greater Kailash-II and 20 plots of land spread over Haryana and Rajasthan.
THE ALLEGATIONS
5 companies owned by Robert Vadra and his mother Maureen bought 31 properties in 2007-10
These include 50% share in Hilton Hotel in Saket, Delhi for 31.7cr (current price said to be 150cr or more), 10,000 sq ft flat in DLF Aralias, Gurgaon, for 89 lakh (current price said to be 25cr), 7 flats in DLF Magnolia, Gurgaon, for 5.2cr (currently valued at over 100cr)
Balance sheets show these 5 firms had a total share capital of 50 lakh. Value of these properties on books was 69.64cr. Firms had no obvious revenue stream. Seed money for acquisitions came from unsecured, interest-free loan of over 65cr from DLF
Kejriwal and Bhushan claim that the worth of the properties when bought was 300cr; now over 500cr
THE DEFENCE
This is blackmail…We will explore all options to teach these people a lesson. Everything was in the public domain. Don’t allow these people to destroy the fabric of decency — Salman Khurshid
A private citizen is only being targeted because of his relationship to Sonia Gandhi. This is below the belt —Jayanthi Natarajan
These transactions were done in conformity with the highest standards of ethics —DLF Documents from registrar of companies, says Bhushan
The activists distributed documents to buttress their claim that Robert and Maureen Vadra paid relatively small amounts for the properties. For instance, they paid Rs 32 crore for a 50% stake in Hilton Hotel, Saket, which they valued to be worth anything between Rs 150 and Rs 300 crore. For the DLF Aralias penthouse, allegedly worth in the region of Rs 25-40 crore, they paid Rs 89 lakh.
“Why would DLF first give an unsecured interestfree loan to Vadras and then sell its properties at throwaway prices to them?” wondered Bhushan.
The reaction of the Congress was ferocious, with the party scrambling to wheel out its heavy artillery. A battery of Union ministers, including I&B minister Ambika Soni, law minister Salman Khurshid, environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan and minister of state for parliamentary affairs Rajiv Shukla, along with party spokespersons, came out to defend Vadra. They dubbed the allegations mischievous and motivated, questioned the competence of the activists to level charges and suggested that the timing of the allegation was chosen to hurt the Congress in the Gujarat elections.
The Haryana and Delhi governments promptly denied any wrongdoings. Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said, “We did not give any concession to anyone. We did not allot even a single inch of land to anyone. I had asked officials to do everything in a transparent manner and in the interest of the state.” DLF, too, came out with a statement to stress that the transactions were in accordance with the “highest standards of ethics”.
Citing favours that the DLF has received from Congress governments, Bhushan and Kejriwal pointed out that the DLF Magnolia complex was built on 350 acres of land in Gurgaon which was acquired by the Congress’s Haryana government for “public purpose” but was transferred to the real estate company. “Villagers from whom the land was taken were told that the acquisition was for setting up an industry,” they said.
When asked how the allegations concerned the Congress, Prashant Bhushan said, “The land acquisition has been done in Delhi, Rajasthan and Haryana…all led by Congress governments…and we know who the leader of the Congress is.” He also promised to make more disclosures on the matter, stressing that the documents he has submitted were from the Registrar of Companies.
Demanding an independent investigation into the sources of funding, Bhushan and Kejriwal said the whole business smacked of a quid pro quo. They said that only an independent probe would serve the purpose as none of the government agencies, the CBI or the Income Tax department, could probe Vadra, whom they described as the “sarkari damad”.
Robert Vadra TO ECONOMIC TIMES ON MARCH 14, 2011
I HAVE KNOWN HE DLF PEOPLE FOR A LONG TIME AND THEY ARE FRIENDS OF MINE. I HAD WANTED TO INVEST IN REAL ESTATE AND ONE THING LED TO ANOTHER.
COURTECY
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