Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra made unlawful profits of Rs. 50.5 crore from a land deal in Haryana in 2008, Justice SN Dhingra Commission is said to have concluded.
The Commission – set up in 2015 by Manohar Lal government – was looking into the grant of licences for change in land in Gurgaon. Robert Vadra’s company, Skylight Hospitality, was also under the scanner.
According to the report, the remarks were made by the Justice S N Dhingra commission which has filed in the Supreme Court the inquiry report that relates to alleged irregularities in land deals.
People familiar with the commission’s report told the daily that there was collusion aimed at benefiting Vadra’s company.
Skylight had bought land from Omkareshwar Properties in 2008 and later sold it off to DLF after a change in land use at a much higher price. As per the committee’s report, Skylight minted profit of Rs. 50.5 crore from the deal. The company could have purchased more land with this money, which needs to be looked at, the report adds.
Vadra had bought the land from Omkareshwar using a fictitious cheque. According to the report, Vadra had paid the money for land after receiving an advance from DLF. This was routed through another company of Vadra.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has dubbed as “politically motivated” reports linking her land deals with that of her husband Robert Vadra’s company that were under the scanner of a Haryana government ordered investigation.
In a statement late Thursday night, Priyanka said her finances had nothing to do with those of her husband or his company Skylight Hospitality which is under Haryana government’s scanner over its land deals with realty major DLF.
Priyanka has said in a statement issued through her office: “Six years prior to the purported ‘land deal involving Skylight Hospitality’ on April 28, 2006, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra purchased 40 Kanal 00 Marla (5 acres) of agricultural land in village Amipur, tehsil Faridabad, district Faridabad in Haryana.”
Ms Vadra, the 45-year-old daughter of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, said she was responding to the questions of a journalist from a leading newspaper “in relation to my husband in which it was alleged that I had acquired properties with illegally acquired funds”.
She added: “The land was purchased for a total purchase price of Rs. 15 lakh, which was paid for entirely by cheque, which was the equivalent of Rs. 3 lakh per acre. The source of funds for the aforesaid purchase was rental income of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra from property inherited from her grandmother Indira Gandhi.”
She then went on to distance herself and her dealings with the business ventures of her husband. She said: “The source of funds for this or any other property acquired by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has no relationship whatsoever with Robert Vadra’s finances and/or Skylight Hospitality, and no relationship whatsoever with DLF.”
