ED attaches assets in EMAAR-MGF PMLA case; Hooda says he has nothing to do with it

A day after Enforcement Directorate (ED) provisionally attached immovable properties valued at ₹834 crore and belonging to EMAAR India and MGF Developments Ltd, former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who is an accused in the case, said “it’s an old case and I have nothing to do with this.”

Hooda also stated that the FIR lodged in the case too is old. It is alleged that Hooda had colluded with real estate to arrange land for them at cheaper rates.

The attachment of properties comes at a time when Haryana Assembly elections are due.

Of the 401.65 acres attached under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, EMAAR India Ltd’s assets are valued at approximately ₹501.13 crore, while MGF Developments Ltd’s assets are to the tune of ₹332.69 crore, as per an ED post on X.

The Delhi-based unit of the agency attached the properties parcels of land, located in 20 villages of Haryana’s Gurugram district and Delhi.

Money laundering case

The ED said both EMAAR India Ltd and MGF Developments Ltd are being probed for money laundering in connection with license no. 97/2010, dated September 18, 2010, obtained from Department of Town and Country Planning (DTCP) for residential plotted colony falling in Sector-65 and 66 of Gurgaon.

The ED began its probe on the basis of an FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against several persons and entities, including Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Trilok Chand Gupta, the former director of DTCP, Emaar MGF Land Ltd and 14 other coloniser companies.

Various landowners were cheated in the case, from public to the State of Haryana and HUDA, by getting notifications under some provisions of Land Acquisition Act, 1894, which compelled owners to sell their parcel of land to coloniser companies at a price lower than the prevailing one.

Additionally, the ED said, the accused fraudulently and dishonestly obtained the letter of intents (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.