Robert Vadra companies' real estate purchases from DLF raise eyebrows

Properties bought cheap, allege Kejriwal, Bhushan Cong comes in defence, DLF says deal clear

Robert Vadra, son-in-law of Congress President Sonia Gandhi, had in last four years bought 31 properties, worth hundreds of crores of rupees even at the time of purchase, from real estate giant DLF, for a song, anti-corruption activists Arvind Kejriwal and Prashant Bhushan alleged on Friday.

News agency PTI reported Vadra “was not in Delhi and sources close to him said there was no reaction for the moment”. BS’ efforts to contact him at his residence met with no response, as the Special Protection Group unit responsible for his security declined to forward the calls.

DLF said: “All transactions are transparent and adhere to the highest standards of ethics.”

 

Although the Congress leaders came out in Vadra’s defence and said the real target was Sonia Gandhi, the Bharatiya Janata Party said it smelt a sweetheart deal, given that Congress governments were in place in Delhi and Rajasthan, the two places where Vadra had bought property. The party said, just as Jagan Mohan Reddy had been investigated by the Enforcement Directorate and I-T Department, Vadra’s wealth must also be investigated.

Kejriwal and Bhushan asked how Vadra could afford to buy all this real estate when records of five companies set up and owned by him on or after November 1 had a total share capital of just Rs 50 lakh. His mother was also on the board of some of these companies, the activists said.

Based on data from the Registrar of Companies (RoC) and an analysis of balance sheets and audit reports, the activists said these companies together had no income from any legitimate business activity (except by way of interest derived from interest-free loans obtained from DLF). Yet, between 2007 and 2010, they acquired properties worth more than Rs 300 crore even at the time of their acquisition. These properties are worth more than Rs 500 crore on Friday.

The ostensible seed money for this acquisition is shown to have come from unsecured interest-free loans from DLF Ltd (over Rs 65 crore). The bulk of these properties are purchased from DLF at a price shown far below the market price. However, Skylight Hospitality, a company in which Robert Vadra is a director, had received Rs 58.05 crore as advances as on March 31, 2011.

The activists said seven flats in Magnolia apartments in DLF, Gurgaon, were purchased for a total of Rs 5.2 crore by Vadra’s companies when the market price of each flat at the time of purchase was above Rs 5 crore. On Friday, the price of each flat was between Rs 10 crore and Rs 15 crore. Similarly, a 10,000 sq feet apartment in DLF Aralias (Gurgaon) was shown to be purchased for Rs 89 lakh, when its market price at the time of purchase in 2010 was Rs 20 crore. It was valued at more than Rs 30 crore on Friday, Bhushan and Kejriwal said.

A 50 per cent stake in a DLF-owned hotel in Saket (DLF Hilton Garden) had been shown to be bought for Rs 32 crore when the market value was Rs 150 crore, the activists said.

Without mentioning either Sonia Gandhi or Priyanka Gandhi, Kejriwal and Bhushan wondered why DLF should have given large unsecured interest-free loans to Robert Vadra and sold him property at throwaway prices, financed by its own funds. They hinted at a quid pro quo — that DLF was given 350 acres by Haryana government for the development of Magnolia project in Gurgaon (where Vadra was allocated seven apartments). They alleged that DLF had also been given various other properties and benefits by the Congress governments in Haryana and Delhi.

DETAILS OF VADRA’S COMPANIES
Property	Units	Worth in balance sheet	Owned by	Paid-up share capital	Market Value at time of purchase	Current market value
Hilton Garden Inn Hotel, Saket, New Delhi	50% share	Rs 31.7 cr	Skylight Hospitality	Rs 5 lakh

Rs 150 cr Rs 300 cr 10,000 sq ft apartment in
DLF Aralias, Gurgaon1 flatRs 89.0 lakhSkylight Hospitality Rs 25 crRs 40 cr Apartments in DLF
Magnolia, Gurgaon7 flatsRs 5.2 crSkylight Hospitality Rs 35-70 crRs 105-170 cr Apartment in DLF Capital
Greens, New Delhi1 flatRs 5.0 crSkylight Hospitality    Plot in Greater Kailash II,
New DelhiUnknown
sizeRs 1.2 crReal Earth EstatesRs 10 lakh   Land in Bikaner, Rajasthan161 acresRs 1.02 crNorth India IT ParksRs 25 lakh   6 additional plots in
Bikaner, RajasthanUnknown
sizeRs 2.43 crReal Earth Estates    Farm land in undisclosed location Rs 69.0 lakhBlue Breeze TradingRs 5 lakh   Plot in Manesar, Haryana Rs 15.38 crSkylight Hospitality    Property in Palwal, Haryana Rs 42.0 lakhSkylight Hospitality    Two plots in Hayyatpur, Gurgaon Rs 4.0 crReal Earth Estates    Six properties in Hassanpur, Haryana Rs 76.0 lakhReal Earth Estates    Two properties in Mewat, Haryana Rs 95.0 lakhReal Earth Estates    Source: India Against CorruptionTOTALRs 96.64 cr 

The activists also raised the issue of the source of funds that Vadra used. “Are illicit funds of the Congress party being funnelled into this property buying spree by the son-in-law of the dynasty,” the activists asked.