New Delhi: A Delhi court nudged the Enforcement Directorate to “thoroughly investigate” the role of the real estate major Delhi Land and Finance Ltd (DLF) and its officials in a money laundering case against businessman Robert Vadra related to the alleged fraudulent acquisition of land parcels in Haryana’s Shikohpur village.
On Wednesday, the court further observed that the ED’s allegations centred on the payment of Rs 58 crore by a DLF group company for the land parcel for which it was allotted 350 acres in Wazirabad, resulting in a profit of Rs 5,000 crore. However, the agency’s prosecution complaint is silent on the role of the real estate behemoth and its officials which the court said should be investigated in the interest of “complete justice”.
Special Prevention of Money-Laundering Act (PMLA) Judge Sushant Changotra made these observations in the order, taking cognisance of the agency’s prosecution complaint against Vadra, his firm Skylight Hospitality and Onkareshwar Properties and others, including directors of these firms. The agency had alleged that the falsification and forgery caused loss to generation of proceeds of crime to the tune of Rs 43.07 crore, including Rs 44.58 lakh in loss to the government through evasion of stamp duty.
The ED had filed charges in July last year, and the court found sufficient materials against the accused to proceed further in the case.
The money laundering case stemmed from an First Information Report (FIR) registered by the Haryana Police in September 2018, alleging that Skylight Hospitality purchased a 3.5-acre land parcel from Omkareshwar Properties at a consideration price of Rs 7.5 crore in 2008.
Over the course of the investigation, the ED allegedly found that Vadra’s firms did not have the consideration amount in their bank accounts and that the payment was made only after DLF paid Rs 15 crore in two tranches. After Skylight Hospitality acquired a licence for commercial development of the land plot from the Directorate of Town and Country Planning (DTCP), held by then Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, the land was sold to DLF Universal Limited, a DLF subsidiary, for Rs 58 crore in September 2012.
The court took into account the arguments made by the counsels for Vadra and the other accused that DLF was not made an accused in the first prosecution complaint despite being on a similar footing with them. They had flagged that, similar to non-payment of the consideration amount on the date of the sale deed between Skylight Hospitality and Onkareshwar Properties, the sale deed between Skylight Hospitality and DLF group company was forged on 18 September 2012, stating that Rs 8 crore was paid on the same date. However, they argued that the ED itself has alleged that Rs 8 crore was paid on 20 September 2012.
The court said that the agency’s prosecution complaint states that DLF paid Rs 58 crore in four tranches between June 2008 and September 2012 to Vadra’s firms, and inferred the payment as bribe. However, it flagged that the complaint has not disclosed whether DLF officials were probed regarding these specific allegations. Earlier, the court had asked the agency to file a status report on the probe against the DLF group company which it submitted in a sealed cover.
The ED probe into the case has not concluded and is open for further investigation.
(Edited by Nardeep Singh Dahiya)
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