By: Manish Tiwari, Chandigarh
While 560-odd investors were duped by Emaar MGF, banks too were defrauded. Buyers were sold plots which Emaar did not own, while banks were given undertakings, certifying some sanctions the real estate company never possessed.
Documentary evidence obtained by Daily Post reveals that the company perpetrated a fraud on several banks, including HDFC, ICICI and LIC Housing Finance, by furnishing false undertakings for facilitating loans to prospective buyers.
Taking the banks for a ride, the company gave in writing: “We have obtained necessary permissions/approvals/
HDFC head (business development) Prabhujeev Bajaj admitted he was involved in the process of issuing loans, but was not competent to talk to media, for which he referred to HDFC Deputy General Manager Vikas Bajpai.
Bajpai said: “We were given undertakings by Emaar MGF that the land was free from all encumbrances.”
Concerned and cautious, some officials from Emaar MGF reportedly took up the issue with their top management and made an effort to push them into purchasing land for the plots which had been planned on the map. Several rounds of meetings ensued but the top brass refused to budge.
Emaar MGF sold 1,670-odd plots during the last six years to buyers whose list reads like a ‘who’s who’ of the region, including leading journalists, top-ranking officials and businessmen. But no sooner did the investors start pressing for possession of plots than the company began to skid on the slippery road of false promises.
Opting for what appears to be a pick-and-choose policy— dropping the names of those who could create difficulties, and picking the lesser mortals — the company prepared a list of the “unfortunate buyers” who would not get possession of their plots until the company bought the land. This was called the “exception list” of buyers. It was first prepared in 2008 when the company found it difficult to convince buyers the reasons for delay in handing over the plots.
Worse still, the company perpetrated this fraud without caring about the clear instructions issued by Punjab Country and Town Planning (CTP) department at the time of giving approval to the township plan in 2006. The CTP had told Emaar MGF not to sell the plots for which land was not available.
But throwing caution and instructions to the winds, the company went ahead and sold 560 such plots.
GMADA officials, however, did not act against the company even as it continued to sell plots.
Even when the company got the plan for developing land for 300 plots in another sector approved, it did not deem fit to accommodate the 560 buyers who had been left in the ‘exceptions’ lurch.
On Friday, Emaar MGF issued a clarification to the Daily Post report “Rs.500 cr scam: Emaar MGF dupes 560 buyers”. However, it did not clarify as to why the company sold Mohali plots which it did not own.
Courtesy: http://dailypostindia.com/
