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Can this man
stop Vadra?
Table of contents
Long live the whistle blower

Haryana IAS officers parting kick reopens Vadra can of worms Vadra case not an isolated incident says transferred IAS officer Transferred Haryana IAS officer receiving threat calls? Cry, Ashok Khemka, and drown India in your tears. Khemkas plight a rule rather than exception in rotting India 04 07 08 09 11
Can anyone touch Vadra?

Turning point: the Gandhi dynasty dominance must end Will Vadragate turn out to be Sonias Bofors? No inquiry into Vadras land deals: Congress Congress says transferred Haryana IAS official has an axe to grind Probe against Vadra would be a victory for democracy Probe Vadra? He deserves a medal for wealth creation patent 15 17 20 21 22 24
The Khurshid distraction

Khurshid vs Kejriwal: The story so far Alien vs Predator: Why Khurshid won his battle with the media Cong cant let Khurshid resign, or else its back to Vadra Why Kejriwals kangaroo court judgment on Khurshid prevails Kejriwal can enter Farrukhabad, how will he return? Khurshid As Khurshid roars, Team Kejriwal faces a reality check 27 29 31 33 35 36
Vadragate: Fishier and fishier

Vadragate: Stench of funny business gets stronger How the politician-builder nexus really works More worms wriggle out of DLF-Vadragate can Did Vadra pay Rs 14 cr tax on his gains, or did FM jump the gun? Congress using SC stay to mislead on Vadra-DLF deal? 39 42 45 47 50
Copyright 2012 Firstpost
Long live the whistle blower
Haryana IAS officers parting kick
reopens Vadra can of worms

Ashok Khemka has been transferred after he initiated an investigation into Robert Vadras land dealings with DLF. And he has cancelled the mutation of a plot of land that Vadra sold DLF. The heat is back on Vadras land dealings...
Venky Vembu, Oct 16, 2012 elevator to business fortune. New revelations made by The Hindu (here) establish that the Haryana government is moving heaven and earth to scuttle an investigation into Vadras land dealings that a whistleblower IAS officer had initiated barely days after anticorruption activist and newbie politician Arvind Kejriwal had revealed the explosive details of the phenomenal and unnatural growth in Vadras fortunes. The IAS officer, Ashok Khemka, has acquired something of a reputation for exposing irreguCopyright 2012 Firstpost
ike a genie that, once released from its bottle, refuses to crawl back inside, the controversy surrounding Sonia Gandhis son-in-law Robert Vadras land acquisitions in Haryana and his dealings with real estate developer DLF is proving hard for Congress crisis managers to bottle up. Just when Congress spin doctors were beginning to breathe easy, reckoning that Vadragate had, after playing non-stop on the news cycle for a few days, been overtaken by the allegations of misappropriation of funds by an NGO run by Law Minister Salman Khurshid s family, the heat is back in full force on Vadras land dealings, which put him on the fast
larities in land dealings in Haryana, and for that reason has been shunted around frequently by the Haryana government. (More details of his whistleblowing record, and the frequent harassment that he faced, here and here and here.) And this time too, within hours of Khemka initiating an investigation on 11 October into Vadras land dealings in four districts of Haryana, he was transferred out. But, according to The Hindu, Khemka appears to have delivered a parting kick that could refocus media and public attention on one of Vadras more controversial land dealings in a way that could cause deep discomfiture to Vadra, Sonia Gandhi, DLF and the Congress government in Haryana. On Monday (15 October), which was Khemkas last day as Haryanas Director-General of Land Consolidation and LandRecords-cum-Inspector-General of Registration, the conscientious IAS officer issued an order cancelling the mutation of a 3.531-acre plot of land in ManesarShikohpur that Vadra had sold to DLF for Rs 58 crore, the paper reports. That puts the entire transaction, on which Vadra made windfall profits, under a cloud, and although the monetary loss is for now entirely DLFs - since the money had been paid to Vadras company, Sky Light Realty the political ripples from Khemkas action will likely reach the doors of 10 Janpath. Khemka has also made it difficult for the Haryana government and the Congress crisis managers to bury the entire controversy surrounding Vadras land dealings, by placing on record the fine details of irregularities that he had dug out in connection with the Manesar-Shikohpur land deal in particular. According to the financial statements filed by Sky Light Realty (which Kejriwal had made public last fortnight) and the preliminary report of the inquiry initiated by Khemka (which The Hindu cites), Vadras company had procured the plot of land in Manesar-Shikohpur land on 12 February 2008 for Rs 7.5 crore. That plot was mutated in Sky Light Realtys favour the very next day. Things continued to move at an extraordinary pace even subsequently, which is
indicative of the alacrity with which the Haryana government moved in this matter, which in turn was a critical consideration behind Vadras company securing all the necessary approvals that would lead him to make supernormal gains in double-quick time. Indicatively, barely a month after the purchase of the land by Vadras company, the Haryana Town and Country Planning Department issued Sky Light a licence to develop a part of the land into a housing colony. Within 65 days thereafter, Vadra entered into an agreement to sell the land to DLF for Rs 58 crore, and although the formal sale deed was registered years later on 18 September 2012 Vadras compnay had received the sale proceeds starting from June 2008 on wards.
The Hindu has more details of the other irregularities that Khemka ferreted out, but the bottomline is that now that the mutation of the Manesar-Shikohpur plot has been cancelled, it reopens the can of worms that makes up the DLF-Vadra land dealings. The land transactions are mired in controversy because Vadra, who had no track record in the real estate business prior to 2007, entered the fray that year by setting up a string of companies. And although his companies were not highly capitalised, given his record as a middling businessman, they benefited from what appears to have been unsecured, interest-free loans from DLF (which were passed off by the real estate major as advances on land sales). Vadra used those cash infusions to build up his land bank, largely in Haryana and Rajasthan, secured fast-track approvals for their developCopyright 2012 Firstpost
ment (in the manner that Khemkas investigation has laid bare), and profited by selling the land to DLF at several multiples of his purchase cost. In other words, from all accounts, DLF leveraged Vadras proximity to power (as Sonia Gandhis son-in-law), used him as a conduit to secure fast-track approvals for land development, plied him with cash infusions that masqueraded as advances, and enabled Vadra in turn to make supernormal profits on these and other real estate transactions. It was a cosy, symbiotic relationship where business and politics worked out sweetheart deals from which both benefited enormously. And now, Khemkas extraordinary action in cancelling the mutation of the plot of land that Vadra sold to DLF threatens to bring down that tower of crony capitalism. It isnt, of course, im-
possible for the Haryana government and the Congress crisis managers to stall the investigation that Khemka has initiated, and fix it in a manner that covers up any trace of dirty business. But Khemka has just made that enterprise a whole lot more difficult to pull off. Amidst all the muck surrounding Vadras land transactions with DLF, there is one soul-elevating thought that comes through. We frequently grieve over the corrosion in the bureaucracy, which has become complicit in corruption. God knows that the neta-babu nexus has greased the tracks for corruption in high places, and there is plenty of compelling evidence of that. But as Khemkas daring act shows, all it takes is a few good and incorruptible men in key positions to undo the best-laid plans of mice and men. Bravo, Ashok Khemka. May your tribe increase
Vadra case not an isolated incident
says transferred IAS officer
Khemka said the Robert Vadra case was not an isolated incident, and that there were many other cases, where public servants were afraid to act because they were afraid that they would get transferred.
FP Staff, Oct 16, 2012 shok Khemka, the IAS officer who was transferred out of Haryana after he set aside the mutation of a Rs 58 crore worth plot of land sold by Congress President Sonia Gandhis son-in-law Robert Vadra to realty giant DLF in 2009, has said the Robert Vadra case was not an isolated incident, and that there were many other cases, where public servants were afraid to act because they were afraid that they would get transferred. Speaking to CNN-IBN, he said that that his 21 years as an IAS officer were not pleasant. Khemka was transferred on October 11, three
days after he initiated a probe into undervalued land deals between Vadra and DLF. He was transferred as the DG, Haryana Seed Development Corporation. However, before leaving office, he cancelled the mutation of the 3.531 acre plot of land in Manesar-Shikohpur citing irregularities in the transfer of land from Vadras Sky Light Hospitality Private Limited to the real estate giant. CNN-IBN has accessed the document ordering the cancellation of the mutation. The land deal reportedly had signatures by an unauthorised Haryana official, it said.
receiving threat calls?

Earlier today, when asked if he was under any kind of pressure from politicians or senior bureaucrats, Khemka replied, they know what type of person I am and I dont accept any pressure.
PTI, Oct 16, 2012
Transferred Haryana IAS officer
handigarh: Senior Haryana IAS officer Ashok Khemka, who is in the news following controversy over land deals involving Robert Vadra, is receiving threat calls from unknown people.
threatening him also talked about having given a supari to eliminate him, Gupta said. He said that if the calls persist then Khemka may think of moving the Court to seek security. Earlier today, when asked if he was under any kind of pressure from politicians or senior bureaucrats, Khemka replied, they know what type of person I am and I dont accept any pressure. However, in his letter to Chief Secretary P K Chaudhery last week, a day after his transfer on October 11, Khemka wrote, my family feels threatened due to certain vested elements whose interests were adversely affected by the exposure of scams in this Department (last posting). I plead for security and fixed tenure in a cadre post befitting my seniority. Khemka, who was removed as Inspector General of Registration in the wake of his ordering a probe into all the land dealings of Congress President Sonia Gandhis son-in-law in four districts of Haryana, has hit back at the government saying it was grossly unfair to punish him for being upright and exposing the scams.
I met him and he told me that he has received some phone calls in which people have threatened him and asked him to stop his activities, Khemkas friend and noted lawyer, Anupam Gupta said. The callers asked him to desist or else he would be eliminated. He further told me that those
Screengrab from Headlines Today
Cry, Ashok Khemka, and

drown India in your tears
What does it say of India that honest men in civil services - like Ashok Khemka - should receive death threats merely because in upholding the due process of law? And that he should be accused of scandalous conduct for spiking an irregularity.
Venky Vembu, Oct 17, 2012 ast night, Haryana IAS officer Ashok Khemka broke down on primetime television. that for Khemka to pass the order cancelling the mutation on 15 October 2012, four days after receiving his transfer order, was inappropriate. Tulsi also accused Khemka of wanting to become a martyr and launch a political career. At which point, Khemka, one of a rare breed of fearless and incorruptible IAS officers, who has been transferred 43 times in 21 years because he has always been a whistleblower against corruption in land dealings, broke down in front of the cameras. (Watch the lively debate and its poignant ending on Headlines Today here.) Here is a man who, somewhat rarely for a buCopyright 2012 Firstpost
Appearing on Headlines Todays panel to discuss the controversy surrounding Sonia Gandhis son-in-law Robert Vadras shadowy real estate dealings with DLF, Khemka, who had cancelled the mutation order relating to a plot of land that Vadra sold DLF on the ground that it was irregular, was accused of scandalous conduct unbecoming of an officer. The man who hurled that accusation: KTS Tulsi, senior lawyer of the Supreme Court, who said
reaucrat in a corroded civil service, had taken action on a blatant case of irregularity in a land deal involving one of the most powerful nonpolitical players in India (who, however, has enormous clout in the political realm, on the weight of the fact that he is Sonia Gandhis sonin-law). Here is a man who received his transfer order at 10 pm on 11 October, barely hours after he initiated an investigation into Vadras land dealings with DLF, since there seemed to be prima facie evidence of irregularity. Here is a man who is facing death threats for having effectively spiked one land transaction between Vadra and DLF since there was a blatant technical and jurisdictional irregularity. (The original mutation order was passed by an Assistant Consolidating Officer, whereas under the rules, only a revenue officer had the authority to sanction land mutation.) Here is a man who could so easily have been in on the take on corrupt land deals, 0r at least have looked the other way when a manifest case of irregular land transactions came to his notice, in the way that so many of his peers in the services do, but acted to uphold the rule. Here is a man whose reputation had been dragged in the mud all day on Tueday by the Harayana government with false claims that his transfer was effected under the orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. (The facts of the case are a little more complex, but essentially establish the Haryana governments claim as venomous lies. The High Court pronouncement asking for Khemka to be relieved at his own request of two of the four posts he held: those related to the posts of special collecter under the land ceiling law and special land acquisition officer. But the transfer order served on him relieved him of the post of Director-General of Land Records and Director-General of Consolidation of Holdings, in which capacity he had ordered the investigation, and which posts were not covered by the High Court ruling.) Here is a man who, somewhat uncharacteristically for a faceless babu, has been forced to come out into the open and into television studios to defend his fair name.
And rather than have his uprightness acknowledged, he was being slandered in full public glare by a Supreme Court lawyer who has evidently lost the ability to tell right from wrong. Its enough to make any man weep. Supreme Court lawyer and anti-corruption activist Prashant Bhushan, who too appeared on the panel discussion, smacked down Tulsi, asking if he had sold his soul to the Congress. Tulsi responded by trotting out the same old Congress lies about Bhushans familys land acquisition in Himachal Pradesh to run a charitable school. What does it say of India if a senior Supreme Court lawyer does not find the egregious influence-peddling by the son-in-law of so powerful a person as Sonia Gandhi to be scandalous, but finds the action of an IAS officer who is merely upholding the due process of law by cancelling an illegitimate order to be scandalous? What does it say of India if people in politics (and on the periphery) have become so drunk on their power that they will go to any lengths to cover up what is rapidly being shown up to be an open-and-shut case of influence-peddling and corruption leading right up to the gates of 10 Janpath? What does it say of India that honest men in civil services who are so rare to find in the first place should receive death threats merely because in upholding the due process of law, they refocussed public attention on the shadowy real estate dealings of hollow men like Vadra and institutions like DLF? What does it say of India if men like Ashok Khemka are reduced to tears on primetime television for just doing the right thing? Cry, Ashok Khemka, and drown India in your tears. This blessed country that has fallen into venal and corrupt leadership desperately needs to undergo a ritual purification exercise. Not even your tears may cleanse it of its corrupt impurities, but for now thats all we have going for us: the honest tears of an upright man
than exception in rotting India

For an IAS official in India, you are damned if you are not close to politicians and you are also damned if you are close to them.
G Pramod Kumar, Oct 17, 2012
Khemkas plight a rule rather
If Kejriwals grand plan is to demolish the political system that is corrupt to the core, Khemka went to national TV out of sheer helplessness and frustration of being an upright IAS officer in the rotting political-administrative complex of India.
fter Kejriwal, it is Ashok Khemka who is breaking news.
It has always been the rule and will continue to be the rule that a civil servant in India is a tool in the hands of the politicians to implement what they want. Mega deals and lucrative transfers are the main priority; governance is just incidental. That is precisely why land deals in Gurgaon happen in day while our ration card takes months.
The congenitally corrupt and the pliant fall in straight away and enjoy a headstart in fringe That Vadragate and the sheer callousness with which the Congress chief minister of Haryana benefits, while the others take time in internalhandled him and the venom that the union cabi- ising and eventually succumbing. net ministers spewed on Kejriwal are incidenA few like Khemka will never get it right and tally a common thread. stick out like a sore thumb. They are occasionKhemka is not an exception, but the rule. ally celebrated by the media and pale into insignificant lives either in dingy offices, back of
the beyond places or in courtrooms and tribunals fighting cases. Some even disappear from the face of the earth as happened in Bihar and Maharashtra. The IAS officer is an unavoidable link in the almanac of corruption in India both for and against. Without their mandatory seal of approval, politicians need them in executing their corrupt plans. Therefore, they do have an option in taking a stand and saying no, but majority of them dont exercise it for obvious reasons. Naturally, we see a senior (retired) officer like Siddhardh Behura spending almost a year in jail as an under-trial along with his political master A Raja in the 2G scam. Or another (IPS) officer form Tamil Nadu getting arrested by the CBI in Delhi in a forex trading scam and many get listed by the Central Vigilance Commissioner as permission pending for prosecution. What about public sector undertakings and institutions such as the Railway Board? Some of the offices do take a stand and work the system, but in the end it is the cunning politicians who win and push the upright officer into extremely difficult or dangerous situations. Take for example, the case of Umashankar, an extremely efficient officer in Tamil Nadu, who not only fought corruption but also played a vital role in e-governance and cleaning up systems wherever he was posted. In the end, he became an enemy of both the principal ruling parties and a Facebook hero. Two years after joining service in 1990, he exposed the irregularities in cyclone relief work in a district where he was an assistant collector. His string of transfers began there. He then took on an AIADMK minister in the cremation ground scandal in 1995 and got transferred. When the DMK came to power in 1996, sensing his utility to target the AIADMK, Karunanidhi made him the joint vigilance commissioner to pursue cases against Jayalalithaa and AIADMK leaders. He served the political purpose and was soon shunted out. When the AIADMK came to power, he was sent to an innocuous post in a district and was the target of silly enquiries.
The DMK sought his utility again when it came back to power. But, finally when he questioned the alleged irregularities of the DMK government itself, he was suspended and pushed into court cases. He was also a pawn in the hands of the DMK when the powerful and rich Marans had briefly fallen out with Karunanidhi family. Elsewhere in Arunachal Pradesh, an officer investigating a multicrore PDS scam mysteriously went missing on Tuesday, that too from a crowded public place. U Sagayam, who exposed the granite scam in Madurai in which union minister MK Alagiris son is on the run, is another victim of transfers and persecutions. He has seen 16 transfers in 20 years and as soon as he sent a letter on the scam to the government early this year, he was transferred. Although the transfer policies of government prescribe tenures for most posts under normal circumstances, it is mostly observed in breach. The governments always can cite exceptional circumstances. Some posts do not have a tenure at all. When the UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav assumed office, all the officers on the 5th floor of the secretariat who served Mayawati, were forced to go on leave. Subsequently, they were placed in innocuous departments one by one. The former principal secretary to the chief minister today is a principal secretary to the homeguards! If one thought the new wave of transparency and leaks would cleanse the system and restrain the ruling politicians, one is mistaken. In fact, the threats to their supremacy has made them more cunning and brazen. Nothing else could explain the action against Khemka by the Haryana government when Vadragate was so much in public attention. This brazenness is almost a license to kill, which some execute. The politicians of late have also enhanced their level of control of the officers to make them totally servile to them. For instance, for central deputation, IAS officers from the states earlier
had to meet their administrative head, the cabinet secretary, and request him/her for a position in Delhi. But now, for posts above that of joint secretary, ministers decide the appointments, which means if you are not in a camp, or are not willing to be used by a camp, you have no chance either in the states or in Delhi. You are a gone case like Khemka or Umashankar. For such losers, there is not even a chance to wangle a post in World Bank or the UN because they too are indirectly controlled by the governments. The only other option is to register for a PhD in public administration or criminal justice. So, in a nutshell, you are damned if you are not close to politicians and you are also damned if you are close to them. In between, there are Khemkas whose children will have to study in 12 schools till they pass out. Among the former, some might end up owning large real estate assets as an ADGP rank official did in Tamil Nadu or end up in jail as Behura.
Unfortunately, victims like Khemkas are created by his own colleagues. For every upright officer, there are countless others who are willing to betray their peers and bend over backwards to reap the fringe benefits of politicians excesses. With people like Kejriwal and Sagayam blowing the whistle, one would expect them to be tamed; but they are not. They are more brazen than before. The IAS officer played Abhay Deol in the movie Shanghai, who manipulates the system in taking on the politician-officer nexus could be a great lesson for upright officers that is not taught at Mussoorie. Work the system like a cunning fox. Use the same tool to trap them. But, then the question is will we have a critical number to make a difference? Most probably not. That is one of the biggest administrative collateral damages that our corrupt political rulers have caused.
Can anyone touch Vadra?
dominance must end

The Gandhi dynastys dominance over Indian politics has to end some day and what we are witnessing today is perhaps a turning point in history.
Abhay Vaidya, Oct 14, 2012 he Gandhi dynastys dominance over Indian politics has to end some day and what we are witnessing today is perhaps a turning point in history. No matter how hard the Congress defends Robert Vadra in order to insulate his DLF deals from impacting his mother-in-law and party president Sonia Gandhi, the fact is that the Congress has already lost the battle of perception in the mango orchard. The aam admi- mango people in Robert Vadras words are more than convinced that the Vadra-DLF deal is not as innocent a business deal as made out by the Congress. This perception has been further
Turning point: the Gandhi dynasty
reinforced by reportage in the national press across print, broadcast and the internet. It was just a matter of time before a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed in the VadraDLF case. That is precisely what happened on Thursday with the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court asking the Union government why Kejriwals allegations against Vadra should not be investigated. The next hearing in the PIL by an activist has been fixed for November 21. Congressmen will have to accept howsoever grudgingly that the anti-corruption crusader Arvind Kejriwals assault on a member of the
Gandhi family has had a devastating impact. This impact has been greater than what was achieved at the peak of the Jan Lokpal movement last year. Kejriwal has been able to achieve what no opposition party could in contemporary times. The last time that the Dynasty came under fierce attack, raising questions over its legitimacy to power, was when the late VP Singh resigned from the Congress in 1987 and took on Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi over kickbacks in the Bofors deal. Such was the public response to his leadership that Rajiv lost the 1989 polls catapulting Singh to prime ministership. Sonia Gandhi faced a threat to her leadership from the then senior Congressman Sharad Pawar in 1999 when his revolt over her foreign origins failed to result in a vertical split in the Congress. The Dynasty survived and over the years, Sonia Gandhi gained confidence in controlling the reins of power. In the last few days of the alleged Vadra-DLFHaryana Government scam, the Gandhi family has been forced to descend many steps from its lofty pedestal. Always ensconced in a class of its own, this family is now no different from the other political families in India with strong and dubious links to business houses which have received undue favours from the government through political influence. The common man in India is deeply troubled by corruption which, in the absence of communal clashes, has taken centre-stage today. The Vadra-DLF story has discredited the Sonia Gandhi family, not on the issue of corruption as yet but on that of propriety, probity and conflict of interest. The senior-most Congress functionaries also stand discredited with the way in which they went about defending Vadra. Why dont they go to the courts?; Where is the evidence? was their common refrain. Party spokesperson Rashid Alvi described Kejriwals charges as part of a conspiracy against the Congress and its leadership, while Finance Minister P Chidambaram proclaimed that private transactions cannot and ought not
to be allowed to be questioned on the basis of insinuations. Law Minister Salman Khurshid described the allegations as baseless. There was no attempt by these senior ministers to even examine the merits of the case as presented by Kejriwal. That job was done by a section of the media. The Congress ministers looked foolish- as part of a phalanx that rushed out to defend Vadra, almost in an instinctive act of self-preservation because the citadel had been attacked. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Defence Minister AK Antony who are presented as paragons of honesty by the Congress preferred to remain silent and let the crisis pass by. Singhs silence on critical issues often brings to mind Thomas Jeffersons words: All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent. His sage advice to the nation on Wednesday to shun the mindless atmosphere of negativity and pessimism that is sought to be created over the issue of corruption could not have been more ill-timed. How will history look back at the Manmohan Singhs, Antonys, Chidambarams and Sibals of the day once the Dynasty has passed by? Will they be seen as patriots or lesser men who showed greater loyalty to the Dynasty than to the nation? With the general elections round the corner, Sonia Gandhi is at her most vulnerable today. Son Rahul has failed to inspire confidence and show results while daughter Priyanka will now have to worry about her husbands tainted image. Sonias own stock has eroded with her partys inept handling of the Vadra-DLF controversy. From time to time, the Dynasty and the Congress reminds India about its Nehruvian legacy and the supreme sacrifices by Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi for the nation. That legacy has been sullied by the Vadra-DLF deal and has punctured the familys charisma. The Congress will cling to the Dynasty because it has no option. But its now just a matter of time before a new chapter opens up in Indian history.
Will Vadragate turn out
to be Sonias Bofors?
Rajiv Gandhi lost the 1989 election as he could not shake off the perception that the Bofors kickbacks related to him. Can Sonia distance herself from Vadras real estate capers?
Vivek Kaul, Oct 16, 2012
oti tawa par, janta party hawa main, was one of the slogans going around in the Lok Sabha elections that happened after the assassination of Indira Gandhi. Riding on the honest image of Rajiv Gandhi (Indiras son and a former Indian Airlines pilot) and a sympathy wave after the assassination of Indira Gandhi by her bodyguards, the Congress party won more than 400 seats in the lower house of Indian parliament. This was an unprecedented majority for the Congress party, something it had not managed to achieve even under the leadership of Jawahar Lal Nehru, Rajivs grandfather and Indias first Prime Minister. Neither had it managed such a huge mandate from the people of India under the leadership of Indira Gandhi. But Rajiv would soon squander away these gains. As Aarthi Ramachandran writes in Decoding Rahul Gandhi, The Rajiv Gandhi government was bogged down by allegations of kickbacks to the tune of Rs 64 crore paid to middlemen in the purchase of Swedish Bofors guns. The governments stonewalling of demands to bring the guilty to book in the Bofors
case and other corruption scandals destroyed Rajivs image as Mr Clean. Ramchandra Guha in India After Gandhi says the stonewalling prompted speculation that the middlemen were somehow linked to the prime minister himself. The impact of this on the Congress party was huge. It lost the 1989 election to an alliance of Janata Dal and the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP). Rajiv Gandhi had to become the leader of the opposition. A party which had more than three-fourths of the seats in the Lok Sabha was thrown out of power. It is often said that perception is reality. Rajiv Gandhi losing the 1989 Lok Sabha election because people thought he was involved in the Bofors scandal and may have received a part of the kickbacks. And this perception was formed after his government stonewalled all attempts at bringing the guilty to book. A similar situation seems to be now brewing up in the Robert Vadra-DLF case. A string of lawyer ministers from the Congress have jumped into the ring in order to defend Robert Vadra and would like the world at large to believe that
there is no truth in accusations being hurled at Vadra (and indirectly Sonia Gandhi) by Arvind Kejriwal and his associates. Let us sample some of the statements that have been made by these lawyer ministers. Kapil Sibal, one the countrys top practicing lawyers before he became a full-time politician and currently the Minister of Human Resource Development and Minister of Communications and Information Technology, recently came to the defence of Vadra. Allegations are happening 247. It is a daily phenomena, just like 247 television news channels, he said. On television, Vadra has been defended by Jayanthi Natrajan who, other than being the Union Minister for Environment and Forests, also happens to be a lawyer, having got her law degree from the Madras Law College. Vadra has also been defended by Manish Tewari, a Congress spokesperson, and a lawyer. Tewari felt that prima facie the charges made by Kejriwal and company were found to be untruth, innuendos and lies. HR Bhardwaj, currently the Governor of Karnataka, and a former law minister also came to the indirect defence of Robert Vadra. Many allegations were levelled against the Gandhi family even in the past. Indira Gandhi was also attacked. But she had a towering personality and fought back. Morarji Bhai (late Prime Minister Morarji Desai) made so many cases against her but they fell like nine pins, he told reporters. And I thought governors were meant to be above politics and political parties. Rashid Alvi, one of the spokespersons of the Congress Party, on one occasion brushed aside the accusations hurdled at Vadra as part of a well-planned conspiracy not against an individual but against the Congress and its leadership. On another occasion on live television he dubbed Kejriwals accusation as a publicity stunt and questioned the veracity of the documents put out by Kejriwal by saying who will decide that the documents shown by Kejriwal are genuine or fake. The website of the Parliament of India lists his profession as an advocate in the Supreme Court. P Chidambaram, the Union Finance Minister,
who also happens to be a lawyer, said, All I can say is at this moment these allegations pertain to transactions between two private persons or entities. The individual (Vadra, son-in-law of Sonia Gandhi) has disclosed all these transactions in his income tax and other returns, and perhaps in the returns of the company. Veerappa Moily, another lawyer and who is the Union Minister for Corporate Affairs as well as Power, jumped to Vadras defence by saying I have already verified these allegations and no wrongdoings have been found in any of the six Robert Vadra-owned companies. What is surprising is that so many Congress lawyers have jumped to the defence of a supposedly private individual, Robert Vadra, and ruled out any wrongdoing on the part of Sonia Gandhis son-in-law. The only thing that this stonewalling has done is that it has built the perception among people that something must be wrong otherwise why are so many lawyer ministers and Congressmen jumping to Vadras defence. In some cases the defence has looked very shaky. Lets look at Alvis insinuation that the documents might be fake. And this comes from a man whose profession is listed as a Supreme Court lawyer. It is very easy to download balance-sheets of even unlisted companies these days. This writer spent the whole of last week doing just that by logging on to www.mca.gov.in and paying a Rs 50 charge for every Vadra company for which details were needed. So all one needs to know is the name of the company and its possible to get the details of that company. And in Vadras case it was pretty well known that he operated through Sky Light Hospitality Private Ltd, a company in which he owned 99.8 percent. Also Alvi should remember that Kejriwal is being advised by Shanti and Prashant Bhushan, two of the best lawyers in the country. Shanti Bhushan was even the law minister of the country at a certain point of time. Other than this, Kejriwal himself must understand a thing or two about balance-sheets having been an Indian Revenue Service officer till a few years back. He is also an IIT, Kharagpur, passout from the precoaching schools era and that definitely means
he is smart. And more than anything else why would anyone who is raising a serious banner of revolt against the incumbent government choose to do so on fake documents? Moily jumped to Vadras defence by saying that there was nothing wrong in any of Vadras six companies. If he had read through the memorandum of association of Vadras Sky Light Hospitality carefully enough he would have realised that the company claims that it will carry out the business as hotels, restaurants, lodges, ice-cream merchants, sweet meat merchants, milk manufactures, bakers, wine and spirit merchants, etc.
the short term and needs to be returned within a year. But this advance was sitting on Vadras balance-sheet even as on 31 March 2011. So the advance given by DLF to Vadra was with Vadra for a period of greater than two years. This doesnt sound like an advance at all. It seems more like an interest-free loan being passed off as an advance. DLF also said in its 6 October statement that we wish to categorically state that DLF has given no unsecured loans to Mr Vadra or any of his companies. The balance-sheet (dated 31 March 2010) of Real Earth Estates Pvt Ltd, another company owned by Vadra, shows a clear entry of Rs 5 crore as a loan from DLF. Vadra used all these loans from DLF to go on a property buying spree. Estimates made now suggest that the value of this property now runs into hundreds of crores. He also benefited from parking this largely interest free money in fixed deposits and earning an interest from them. The Congress Partys over defence of Vadra has not helped it at all. It has built the perception among people that there must be some hankypanky involved in the entire business. That being the case no other response could have been expected from a party that doesnt really stand for anything except the Nehru-Gandhi family. Kejriwal has hit the Congress party where it hurts the most. As Ramachandran writes in his book on Rahul Gandhi, the Nehru-Gandhi family remained relevant within the Congress. In fact, it became more powerful as it was the only centre around which the entire Congress edifice could hold together. It was now an amalgam of pressure groups which were interested in power, and their one-way ticket to it was through proximity to the Nehru-Gandhi family. And its in times like these Congress leaders have to go through their agni parkisha and show their loyalty to the Nehru-Gandhi family. Thats precisely what they are doing. Their reactions are a clear case of Catch 22. They are dammed if they try to come to the defence of Vadra and they are dammed if they dont. However, in the process Vadragate may turn out to be Sonia Gandhis Bofors.
But instead of doing all that Sky Light Hospitality primarily seems to be in the business of real estate, having accumulated a slew of properties on the basis of a so-called Rs 50 crore advance it got for selling a plot of land to DLF. As has been repeatedly pointed out in Firstpost and other places in the media, the dealings between DLF and Vadra appear murky. (You can read about it completely here, here and here). Sky Light Hospitality owns a 50 percent stake in Saket Courtyard Hospitality Ltd through which it runs one hotel in Saket, New Delhi, in parternship with DLF. Vadras Sky Light Hospitality bought 3.5 acres of land some time in 2008-09 at Rs 15.38 crore. In the same period DLF bought this land from Vadra for Rs 58 crore. The question is how did the value of the land go up nearly 3.7 times in such a short period of time? Against this sale DLF gave Vadra an advance of Rs 50 crore. An advance is typically given for
No inquiry into Vadras
land deals: Congress

Congress today rejected the demand for an inquiry into Robert Vadras land dealings.
PTI, Oct 17, 2012 Alvi said if at all any inquiry has to be conducted or any action has to be taken, then it should be on the basis of any complaint filed before the government of India or any appropriate agency. All of us appreciate that the officer was transferred on October 11. And he took a decision on this piece of land (of Vadra) on October 12 and 15. Hence, his transfer has nothing to do with this land. How can you relate his transfer to this particular land issue? Noting that according to media reports, Khemka was transferred nearly forty times, he wondered why nobody questioned the reason behind his transfer on earlier occasions.
ew Delhi: Congress today rejected the demand for an inquiry into Robert Vadras land dealings suggesting the action taken by Haryana IAS officer Ashok Khemka on a land deal involving the son-in law of Sonia Gandhi was an afterthought.
Dismissing the charges against Vadra as absolutely baseless, party spokesperson Rashid Alvi said no inquiry is needed. No inquiry is necessary. I out rightly reject this. He said this to a question whether Congress favoured a comprehensive probe in the matter as serious questions have been raised by the IAS officer on Vadras land deal.
Its not possible that the last 39 transfers happened without any reason. There must be some reason behind it. There must be some administrative reason (for the latest transfer), which can be replied to best by (Haryana) Chief Minister, Alvi said. He also pointed that Haryana government has already constituted a committee and ordered a time-bound inquiry into the issues raised by Khemka whose report will be out in a month.
Congress says transferred

Haryana IAS official has an axe to grind
Ashok Khemkas revelations might have intensified the debate around Robert Vadra but Manish Tiwari thinks the IAS officer is motivated by angst over his transfer.
FP Staff, Oct 17, 2012
s IAS official Ashok Khemka targetting the deal between a Robert Vadra-owned firm and DLF purely out of angst over the multiple transfers he has had to endure over the years? The Congress party definitely thinks so. Congress spokesperson Manish Tiwari feels that the allegations being levelled against DLF and Vadra-owned firms are just insinuations and calumny and do not merit a probe. The concerned IAS officer has angst against his transfer. I believe he has an axe to grind, Tiwari told CNN IBN, indicating that the whistle blowers actions were motivated. Tiwari ruled out the party backing an independent probe on the son-in-law of the Congress party president Sonia Gandhi.
Accusation, crucifixion and trial by the media cannot be ground for investigation, he said. However, Shalini Singh, the Deputy Editor of The Hindu, questioned whether it was normal practice for the representatives of the political party to come to the defence of private individuals. She pointed out an anomaly between what Corporate Affairs minister Veerappan Moily and Chidambaram said about the investigation. Why is the investigation report by the Corporate Affairs ministry on Vadra not being made public? she asked.
Probe against Vadra would be
a victory for democracy

Author Gurcharan Das believes that a probe against Vadra would show that nobody in the nation is above the law.
Abhay Vaidya, Oct 13, 2012
ell-known author and public intellectual, Gurcharan Das has justified the call for a probe against Congress president Sonia Gandhis son-in-law Robert Vadra saying that this would be important for Indian democracy. A probe into the allegations against Vadra would be very healthy, said Das in Pune on Saturday. If you can actually probe and put the first family in the dock, it would be a victory for democ-
racy and show that nobody is above the law, he said. I would disagree with Mr. Chidambaram and all the worthies of the Congress party who are trying to defend the family. I feel a probe is justified, Das said while speaking at the BDB Book Club here on Saturday. The former CEO of Procter & Gamble (India) and managing director, Procter & Gamble Worldwide (Strategic Planning) was here to promote his latest book India Grows at Night.
He said there was enough evidence to institute a probe into Vadragate although the connections of quid-pro-quo between Vadra-DLF and the Haryana Government were still not strong enough. Das, who has authored a number of bestsellers on the problems of contemporary India and possible solutions, said what the country needs most is a liberal state with a strong rule of law. Democracy means many things- it means equality, liberty, justice, elections, free press But most important of all is the rule of law. Vadra should not be above the rule of law, he said. He called for pro-market policies rather than pro-business policies which promoted crony capitalism. Pro-market means rules-based capitalism. If you are pro-market, you allow companies to die when it is time for them to die- you dont bail out Kingfisher As an example of a strong rule of law, Das cited the example of the sentencing of former president of Enron Corporation Jeffrey Skilling to 24 years in prison following the collapse of the U.S. multinational. Skillings lawyer had requested for a reduction of just 10 months in the sentence as that would keep Skilling away from the company of hardened criminals, murderers and rapists in jail. The judge thought for a few minutes and then refused, said Das. According to the writer, India would be lucky
if a strong leader were to emerge on the scene. Arvind Kejriwal, he said, is a possibility although he had reservations at the moment. The biggest achievement of the Anna Hazare movement was to awaken the middle class, the author said, while observing that the political awakening of the middle class was bound to have an impact with the expansion of this segment of society. The middle class accounts for one-third of the population today but will soon expand to half of the population. This is when it will exert a decisive influence on Indian politics, he said. Das said that although Indira Gandhi was a strong leader, she destroyed democratic institutions that her father had built painstakingly. Stating that India had better governance under the British, he said, The institutions of the police, bureaucracy and the courts that India inherited in 1947 were much better. The destruction of institutions began under Indira Gandhi, he said. Pointing out to the benefits of the reforms process, he said that Prime Minister Manmohan Singhs biggest mistake was not to have sold the reforms to the people. Margaret Thatcher would say that she spent more time selling the reforms than initiating the reforms themselves. Reforms are for the aam admi- they bring lower prices through competition, Das emphasised.
for wealth creation patent

The DLF-Vadra affair has spoilt the Congress reforms party. But it should celebrate the fact that Vadra has discovered the secret of wealth creation without negatives.
BV Rao, Oct 11, 2012 he national capital is in the middle of a reforms frenzy. Theres nothing wrong with that except that Manmohan Singh is seeking to package three years of utter failure as sudden virtue. Since his return to the finance ministry on 31 July, P Chidambaram has been busy making the big decisions that will get the dollars rolling back into India: FDI in retail, insurance and pension, hike in fuel prices, power tariffs and train fares (for some classes). Delhis English media is grinning like a Cheshire cat unable to hide the glee over the sudden zeal to reform everything in sight. Corporate
Probe Vadra? He deserves a medal
India is ecstatic for being courted by the government all over again. Even visiting US economy honchos Ben Bernanke and Timothy Geithner are pleased with the change in mood. And soon we can bet that The Economist, Time, NYT and WSJ will also praise the new spring in the Indian economy. Thats a happy situation for the Congress and its government. Two months ago it didnt seem like it would be possible for them to turn the tide so rapidly after three years of self-induced paralysis. No wonder Congressmen are strutting about like they have already won the perception game
and 2014. You can tell that from the smugness on the faces of Congress spokespersons on evening prime time and its ministers all through the day. At least, till a few days ago that was the case. But just when they seemed set for a rollicking party, theyve discovered a fly in the drink. Normally, a fly in the drink does not a party stop. You just pick it and flick it away. Unfortunately for the Congress party, Robert Vadra is not just any ordinary housefly. So ministers, spokespersons and partymen, everybody dived into the deep end of the glass to keep safe. Congress initial reaction was one of irritation and disdain for interrupting the party for piffling matters. Deals between two private individuals cannot be the concern of the government. Should children and relatives of powerful politicians live in poverty? Vadra may have built a veritable real estate empire in the matter of four years flat without a product or a business but which laws of the land did he violate? DLF, a listed company, may have doled out favours to Vadra but how are the party or the government involved (oh, really?) and what is Vadras crime if DLF gave him Rs 85 crore (or whatever) to keep in his piggy bank for two years when its own coffers were not exactly overflowing, or to be precise, it was being weighed down by a Rs 22,000 crore debt? As always, the Congress party is prone to misunderstanding the mango man. The question on top of everybodys mind is not what crime did Vadra commit? The question on top of everybodys mind is from where does Vadra source the timber for his magic wand that can turn Rs 50 lakh into Rs 300 crore in four years. All of us would love to have that magic wand. And if we have to bring down an entire forest for that, Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan, a fierce supporter of Vadras right to livelihood, would surely accommodate us and bend a few forest laws. No, the question on everybodys mind is not what crime Vadra committed. The question on
everybodys mind, at least on the mind of the millions of DLF shareholders, is what crime they have committed that DLF does not extend each one of them the same largesse it showered on Vadra. The crime is not to share the formula for creating assets just out of mutual goodwill and thin air. If a formula exists, wherein we can grow our wealth by 6,000 percent in four years by a) Not doing anything significant such as selling a product or service b) Not breaking any law of the land c) Not causing any revenue loss to the government or a listed company d) Not owing a dime to the government in any tax, wealth, income or otherwise e) Not leveraging the enormous clout of the First Family, and f) Not colluding with friendly state governments to deliver favours to munificent listed companies.. then, this government, of all governments that we have seen, has the moral duty to reveal the formula for the good of the mango man. Because, the essense of Manmohanomics, we have been told, is creating wealth. Vadra made loads of money but nobody lost any! Thats a perfect example of wealth creation. So, instead of avoiding the topic and threatening Arvind Kejriwal, it makes sense for the government to bring Vadras copyright formula under the compulsory licence. There is no life-saving drug more potent than easy money. No need for FDI, no reforms and no coalition compulsions. Prescription for a never-ending Congress party. Right doctor? The author is Editor of Governance Now www.governancenow.com
The Khurshid distraction
The story so far

The war of words between Law Minister Salman Khurshid and IAC activist Arvind Kejriwal grew louder and bitterer on Monday with no signs of either side backing down. Here is a quick summary of what has happened so far.
he war of words between Law Minister Salman Khurshid and IAC activist Arvind Kejriwal grew louder and bitterer on Monday, with the activist-turned-politician rubbishing Khurshids evidence that he never misappropriated funds from an NGO run by him and his wife. Kejriwal also called off his agitation demanding the ministers resignation, vowing to take the battle to Khurshids electoral constituency of Farrukhabad in Uttar Pradesh. Meanwhile the Economic Offences Wing of the Uttar Pradesh police also began its probe in the matter by taking documents from 17 branches of Khurshids NGO across 16 districts in Uttar Pradesh.
Khurshid vs Kejriwal:
FP Staff, Oct 16, 2012 Here is a quick wrap up of key developments so far. Kejriwal rubbishes Khurshids evidence, calls off protest rally IACs Arvind Kejriwal announced he was calling off his protest against Khurshid in New Delhi and vowed to take the fight to the Law Ministers constituency of Farrukhabad in Uttar Pradesh from 1 November. We are suspending our agitation, not closing it We will take our fight to every village of Farrukhabad, Kejriwal said at Jantar Mantar. He alleged that the Uttar Pradesh government would not act against Khurshid as the union law minister and could influence a disproportionate
assets case against Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav in the apex court. Both will save each other, Kejriwal said, referring to the Congress and Samajwadi Party. Kejriwal also produced what he said was more evidence of financial bungling by the trust run by Khurshid and his wife, even as the Congress defended him saying he was a very important minister of UPA-2. Addressing his supporters at Jantar Mantar, Kejriwal paraded people who claimed they had not got any aids wheel-chairs, hearing aids or tricycles from the Zakir Husain Memorial Trust that the Khurshids head. Economic Offences Wing begins probing Khurshid NGO The Economic Offences Wing of the Uttar Pradesh police conducted raids on 17 handicap welfare centres in 16 districts of Uttar Pradesh on Monday in connection with the allegations of irregularities in Salman Khurshids NGO. The police had launched a probe into the matter on Sunday. The probe is being carried out to cross check what the TV Today sting operation says and also the fresh allegations against Salman Khurshid and his wife Louise. Four teams have been constituted for probe in 17 districts where irregularities are suspected. Whether this suspicion is wrong or right only time will tell, DG EOW Subrata Tripathi told reporters on Sunday. Beni Prasad Verma attempts to help, lands himself and Congress in soup Seeking to defend his colleague, Union Steel Minister Beni Prasad Verma put his foot in his mouth with a firm hand, saying a man like Salman Khurshid would not do any wrong for a mere Rs 71 lakh, which is a very small amount for a Central Minister. He later said his statement had been misinterpreted. Salman Khurshid is a responsible person. He is a Central Minister. He was a Central Minister earlier as well. When he is saying there is no scam, he should be believed I dont think
a person like Khurshid will do anything for an amount like Rs 71 lakh. It is a very small amount for a Central Minister, he told reporters here. If it would have been Rs 71 crore, even I would have been serious, Verma said adding Khurshid should not resign from his current position. Congress dismisses Kejriwals alllegations says probe by UP govt is enough The Congress has ruled out paying any heed to Kejriwals demand for an independent probe. The Uttar Pradesh government has appointed a committee to luck into this matter and that is sufficient, Sandeep Dikshit, Congress spokesperson, said. He also chose to dodge a question regarding minister Beni Prasad Vermas unexpected defence of his ministerial colleague. It is not about how much the scam amount is but whether there is any basis to the allegations being levelled, Dikshit said. Khurshids take oath of media silence Perhaps as a result of their press conference that took a turn for the bizarre, Salman and Louise Khurshid have said that they are not going to talk to the media anymore. And to reiterate the point, television channels showed a stoic Salman Khurshid acknowledging the reporters mobbing him for a sound byte, but refusing to humour them. Ministerial colleague Ambika Soni also defended his silence saying,He has already spoken to you at great length, and his lawyers are taking the matter forward. There is nothing more to say. She also dismissed speculation that the Congress party had isolated Khurshid in this matter, saying that there was no question of the party abandoning him. Khurshid has a reputation to be proud of. He has a legacy most of us would like to have. He has decided to take the legal route.
with the media

The press conference marked the clash of the government vs the media, two compromised institutions with poor credibility, now brawling openly and without restraint. And its exactly the battle that Khurshid was looking for.
Lakshmi Chaudhry, Oct 15, 2012
Alien vs Predator: Why Khurshid won his battle
alman Khurshid lost his cool. He got into a slanging match with reporters. He was variously livid, furious and angry as he yelled, shouted, and sparred with all that would question him. Anyone who missed the press conference, and read todays newspapers and saw the near-comical images of an irate Khurshid would think our Law Minister fell apart under pressure, crumbled in the face of heated media interrogation.
Its a nice story, but also a self-serving one. The headline-making event was more Alien vs Predator than All the Presidents Men. It marked the clash of the government vs the media, two compromised institutions with poor credibility, now brawling openly and without restraint. The reporters yelled every bit as much as Khurshid, and just often at each other. Questions were screamed out at random, often with
monotonous repetition, without any interest or expectation of an answer. The Fourth Estate was more mad dog than watchdog, frothing at the mouth for a taste of political blood. Messy as it may have been, this is the battle Khurshid was looking for. At the very outset, he was careful to name his adversary: The battle is between me and Aroon Purie [Owner-Editorin-Chief of India Today Group]. His ground rules for the press conference also included a outright refusal to address Arvind Kejriwal. When a reporter brought up his name, Khurshid promptly replied, You are forgetting the rules of the game. And it was a cleverly chosen rule, indeed. Given the credibility challenge faced by some sections of the media, a media outlet is a far easier enemy to take on than an activist with a well-established reputation for probity. Over and again, Khurshid made references to the kind of bad journalism that is often seen. The most incendiary was the suggestion that he had a counter-sting evidence to suggest that Aaj Tak had bribed its sources to fabricate the scandal. When the channels reporter started shouting in outrage, Are you raising questions about our character? Khurshid gleefully replied, Absolutely. He reiterated the insinuation when he informed reporters that they were free to interview camp attendees who were ready to testify that they had indeed received their devices. You can offer them more cycles if you like, and they may give you what you want to hear, he added. It made for a bizarre pot-and-kettle spectacle, politician and reporter, trading charges of corruption. A spectacle that nevertheless worked to Khurshids advantage. The very same aam aadmi who readily believes that a politician would steal Rs 71 lakh from disabled kids is also convinced that most of the news on his TV is manufactured for either political or financial reasons.
More importantly, the charges against Khurshid rang all the more hollow when hurled by a lynch mob of journalists, mindlessly shouting the same 3-4 questions over and over again even as he waved around documents, photos, press clippings, armed with dates and details. The lack of preparation on the part of the interrogators was painfully clear. Clearly its their homework, it is their story. Rest of you have followed the story, suggested a cheeky Khurshid. To rebut the accusation that the Eta disability camp was never held, Khurshid waved an article on that camp from the very same paper that ran the allegation. The publication, he suggested, did not bother to check its own archives. And then he slyly suggested that the reporters were free to disregard the clipping since they too know, Newspaper stories are not always honest. The day after, most media outlets repaid Khurshids presumption with derisive headlines and images of a politician gone wild. But their failure to name either Poorie or India Today despite Khurshids repeated references to them in a public press conference spoke volumes, and unwittingly underlined his case. It is too early to comment on the merits of the case against Khurshid or his defamation suit against the India Today group. But what is indisputably clear is that the Indian media are in the midst of a crisis of purpose and identity. The rise of Arvind Kejriwal as the Indian Julian Assange is a measure of their loss of credibility, and the erosion of their traditional role as the watchdog of democracy. In this era of sting journalism, media outlets have ratcheted up TRPs and newsstand sales by pointing their fingers at politicians. Today, that accusatory finger is pointing right back at them.
Cong cant let Khurshid resign,
or else its back to Vadra

The Congress is standing firm on Khurshid right now, but behind the facade, the party is deeply worried about the damage caused.
Sanjay Singh, Oct 15, 2012
day after the countrys articulate and suave Law Minister Salman Khurshid held his 100-minute come clean press conference, the guttersnipes presented more evidence of the alleged fraud committed by the Dr Zakir Hussain Memorial Trust run by Khurshid and his wife Louise. But for now the Congress party is backing him, and completely rejected calls for his resignation. The party fears that if Khurshid is made to resign now, it would unwittingly be giving credit to Arvind Kejriwal and a media house against whom Khurshid has filed a Rs 100 crore
defamation suit. Moreover, if the Khurshid case moves off prime time, the focus would return to the Robert Vadra issue and open the flood gates to similar demands against other ministers. A vocal Congress General Secretary Digvijaya Singh strongly defended Khurshid, declaring him innocent, and the allegations as baseless. He demanded a probe against the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) for leaking the trusts inspection report to the media. Why is it that every time there is an expose against the Congress, the CAG leaks out a report to the media before it is presented to Parliament?
asked Singh. Even as holes were being punched in Khurshid defence from various quarters, the Congress is under pressure on all fronts. Senior leaders may publicly be putting up a brave front, but internally, the expose comes at a time when the results of two Lok Sabha bypolls have already rattled the Congress. In the Jangipur parliamentary seat in West Bengal, President Pranab Mukherjees son Abhijit barely scraped through with a narrow victory margin of 2,536 votes, and in the Tehri seat in Uttarakhnd, Chief Minister Vijay Bahugunas son lost to the BJP. In the Khurshid trust case, even though the amounts involved run into just a few lakhs hardly worth a national brouhaha there is public outrage over the charge of robbing people at the lowest rung of society, the physically handicapped poor, by someone as high as the Law Minister. This is causing serious concern among Congress workers. During the day, Khurshid didnt say a word to the media, but he is expected to clarify to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh his stand on the trust. He had said yesterday that he would come up with a reverse sting to expose the media house (the India Today group) and the motives of those who indulged in the said expose against him, but he did not do so. The display of more evidence against him by India Against Corruption activist Arvind Kejriwal and other media publications may have forced him to hold his hand. Kejriwal produced a Pankaj from district Mainpuri in Uttar Pradesh, whose name figured in the check-list as someone given a hearing aid.
That he had no hearing problem was evident from his public appearance, but he did have a disability in his foot. He said that he did not receive any aid from the trust. Kejriwal also read out the names of a number of people Santosh Kumari, Sashi Mohan, Dayaram and others whose names were there in the list of beneficiaries. But they did not exist physically in the villages mentioned in the trusts list. The Khurshids had no credible response on the forged letters one in the form of an affidavit signed by a UP government official, JB Singh, and another by an official who retired in January but whose signature appeared in a letter dated 24 March for purposes of further grants. His defence, that these letters were given to the Union ministry of social justice by the state government, raises a more pertinent question: why was the then Mayawati government sending forged letters to the Union government to benefit a trust run by the law minister and his wife? For now, one thing is sure: the Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh is moving at a snails pace to act on its own report of forged letters and other instances of wrongdoing by the Dr Zakir Hussain Memorial Trust. Kejriwal says this is a clear case of quid pro quo where Khurshid, as head of the prosecution wing of the CBI, may go soft against Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadavs disproportionate assets case and, in turn, Akhilesh Yadavs government would stall further probe and prosecution of the Khurshid couple. Khurshid may not resign for now but the alleged cheating of disabled people has caused a serious dent in the Congresss pro-poor plank.
Why Kejriwals kangaroo court judgment on Khurshid prevails

Vadra and Khurshid will be spared the agony of torment by third-rate people if they subjected themselves to a credible, first-rate investigation. Until then, they may be condemned to face prickly accusations before kangaroo courts in Delhis streetcorners.
Venky Vembu, Oct 15, 2012
t isnt often that you get to see Law Minister Salman Khurshid, who is in normal times about as suave a politician as you can hope to find in the Congress, so fiery and rattled and ill-tempered as he was at his press conference on Sunday to rebut allegations that an NGO run by his family secured funds under false pretences and misappropriated them.
men (including, ironically, Khurshid himself) came out swinging in defence of Vadra to spike the demand for an inquiry. Today, the selfsame valiant defender of Sonia Gandhis familial honour finds himself facing a likely investigation over far more trivial allegations of impropriety.
Somewhat uncharacteristically, Khurshid was as snappy as a turtle with mediapersons, particularly from the India Today media group whose sting investigation set off the perpetual motion machine of allegations that Arvind Kejriwal has picked up and is feeding off. And earlier, in his comments in London barely a day earlier, Khurshid dismissed Kejriwals reiterations of media allegations against him as the third-rate actions of third-rate people. The reason for Khurshids manifest loss of equanimity in the face of these allegations against his trust isnt hard to find: from all accounts, the accusations are acquiring traction and growing in resonance. It now appears that the Uttar Pradesh police will conduct an inquiry into the allegations against the trust run by Khurshid and his wife Louise and that Khurshid and his wife may in fact be questioned. It is also probably galling for Khurshid that he doesnt quite enjoy the same immunity from investigation in the way that Sonia Gandhis son-in-law Robert Vadra does. The allegations centred around Vadras dealings with real estate developer DLF are far graver, but since the allegations led to the very epicentre of power Sonia Gandhis household an army of Congress-
But coming so soon after Robert Vadras mocking of mango people in a banana republic (in the wake of Kejriwals allegations about the suspect nature of his real estate transactions with DLF), Khurshids third-rate comments have given Kejriwal another handle to milk and whip up outrage among his constituency of supporters. Yet, beyond the daily tu-tu-main-main spitfest, which looks set to continue into today with Kejriwal promising to dish out yet more dirt on Khurshid, the underlying issues thrown up point to a disquieting downward spiral in the discourse of accusatory politics, and the official responses to them. On the one hand, its becoming hard to keep pace with Arvind Kejriwals string of hit-andCopyright 2012 Firstpost
run accusations. Just last fortnight Kejriwal sensationally got a reluctant media to focus on Robert Vadras dealings with DLF, which prima facie point to a cosy symbiotic relationship between business and power satellites and raise valid questions of impropriety that leads in this case to the First Family of Indian politics. Subsequent to Kejriwals allegations against Vadra, media groups have taken the story forward by pointing to glaring inconsistencies in the narratives as put out by DLF (in response to the allegations) and the official filings made by Vadras companies. These media investigations have, if anything, reinforced the initial point that Kejriwal made: that Vadras dealings with DLF merit an independent, credible investigation to establish that no impropriety was in fact committed. Yet, rather than take full ownership of the issue that has potential to profoundly embarrass the epicentre of UPA power Sonia Gandhis household Kejriwal has flitted away, like a child with an attention-deficit disorder, onto his next hit-and-run target: Salman Khurshid. Even in terms of the scale of alleged malfeasance, Khurshids Rs 71 lakh is a pittance compared to the Rs 300 crore business empire that a wheeling-dealing Vadra built up virtually overnight, from all accounts on the strength of his proximity to power. From what weve seen of Kejriwals public posturing since last year, he appears to have come around to the view that whipping up daily hysteria among his supporters with hit-and-run tactics is more productive than seeing issues through to fruition. In an interview to Economic Times, Kejriwal also confirms the theory that Firstpost had noted on Sunday about his intentions: that he wants to exercise the Samson option by bringing down the entire political edifice on our heads since, in his estimation, it is impossible to reform it incrementally. Kejriwal told the Economic Times that he had been compelled to enter the political arena because we were left with no option but to completely overthrow the system. His intention, he said, was not to become part of the system. We are not saying that they are bad people, we are good people, and that we will run the sys-
tem well by taking over. We will never be able to change the system over time, for we will get sucked into it. We will need to change / break down the system immediately. This finds daily expression in what this blogger calls the McCarthyism of the uncorrupted that Kejriwal represents. Just as the US Senator who gave the term its name saw communists lurking everywhere in the early 1950s, Arvind Kejriwal sees corruption behind every deal. And as his posturing on Parliament Street indicates, he has anointed himself both prime prosecutor and judge, pronouncing on the invalidity of the evidence that Khurshid cited in his defence. But if Kejriwal has been allowed to occupy the public space and his disquieting conduct of public trials on the streets of Delhi has acquired resonance among his supporters, it is only because officialdom has dismissed even credible allegations, such as those made against Vadra, with airy disdain. The feeling that the UPA government will go to any lengths to shield its flock against serious charges of corruption in the coal block allocation scandal, the VadraDLF transactions and in Khurshids NGO has gained traction among the public to such an extent that even if they disapprove of Kejriwals shoot-and-scoot tactics, they see it is that only appropriate response to the cussedness of officialdom. It is because even Ministers of the UPA government from P Chidambaram (who claimed imperiously and improperly - that there was no need for an inquiry into the Vadra case because his income tax returns were in order) to Veerappa Moily (who claimed that he had conducted an internal inquiry into Vadras companies and found everything to be in order) are quick to cover up these allegations of corruption that Kejriwals own grandstanding on the streets acquires even borderline legitimacy. Perhaps Vadra and Khurshid will be spared the agony of torment by third-rate people if only they would subject their affairs to a credible, first-rate investigation. Until such time, they may be condemned to face prickly accusations and be pronounced guilty by kangaroo courts in Delhis streetcorners.
how will he return? Khurshid

FP Politics, Oct 17, 2012
Kejriwal can enter Farrukhabad,
n openly furious Law Minister Salman Khurshid said anti-corruption activist-turned politician Arvind Kejriwal was welcome to go to his constituency of Farrukhabad in Uttar Pradesh to campaign against him, but ominously questioned if he would be able to return. He can go to Farrukhabad but he should also return from Farrukhabad.. Khurshid was shown telling his supporters amidst loud cheers and catcalls. In the undated video that was reportedly recorded at a closed door meeting in Farrukhabad, the law minister is also heard saying that he had worked with as a law minister but was also prepared to work with blood. I have been made the Law Minister and asked to work with the pen. I will work with the pen but also with blood., Khurshid said to cheers. What he meant though is open to interpretation. He also said that also said that Kejriwal would
get the answers to all the questions he had asked. The comments are in response to an announcement by Kejriwal that he would take his agitation demanding Khurshids resignation to the ministers constituency of Farrukhabad. The IAC activist is alleging discrepancies against an NGO run by him and his wife. The minister, who recently returned to India after being feted at Oxford University, was met with allegations of financial mismanagement and using forged documents in the Zakir Husain trust. On 14 October, Khurshid had denied all charges of allegations and said that he and his wife were not guilty of financial mismanagement. He also presented evidence which was subsequently refuted by Kejriwal. Why would a law minister, who has taught at Oxford need to forge signatures? Khurshid had said during an interview when questioned about the allegations leveled against him.
Team Kejriwal faces a reality check

Team Kejriwal has had a free run in Delhi with TV following them. They could face a tougher reality check in the hinterland, where politics is lived in the raw.
R Jagannathan, Oct 17, 2012
As Khurshid roars,
very man is a lion is his own den.
Salman Khurshid, newly woken up by a poke in the ribs by Arvind Kejriwal over the small matter of misappropriation of funds by the formers Dr Zakir Hussain Memorial Trust, was all vim and gusto as he took on India Against Corruption (IAC) on his own turf. Speaking to supporters in Farukkhabad, Khurshid had all these things to say. Sure, IAC can come to target him in Farukkhabad, but how will they return? He also talked of working with the pen as law minister, but he also knew how
to work with blood. One presumes he wasnt talking about organising blood donation camps for the poor. He thundered: They say we will ask questions, and you answer them. I tell them, listen to our answer and forget about your questions. What Khurshid said was similar in tone to what Rajiv Gandhi had to say at the height of the Bofors corruption allegations. He told a public meeting then, that he would teach the firangis (foreigners) a lesson with the use of a colourful phrase nani yaad dila denge.
Khurshids loud rhetoric may have gone down well in rustic Farukkhabad, but the national channels will probably go to town with his utterances, raising a ruckus over his gangster-ish thunder. But they would be missing the underlying point. The reason why Khurshid could speak like that in Farukkhabad is simple: politics in the hinterland is always lived in the raw, unlike in cities. The high urban TV coverage that Team Kejriwal has gotten used to will vanish when the team tries to make its point in Farrukhabad, where voter allegiances are relatively unmoved by urban middle class concerns. It is an open secret that Uttar Pradesh politics is as much about muscle-power as anything else. It is equally well-known that political parties cannot succeed without the help of gangsters, criminals and ruffians. In fact, everyone knows that this is the situation in almost all states outside the big urban areas, where the media is active. Mamata Banerjee needed muscle power to outdo the Lefts street heft in Bengal. The AIADMK and DMK and various other Dravidian parties make no bones about the fact that control of the streets is the key to successful politics in the state.
The late YS Rajasekhara Reddy and Telugu Desams Chandrababu Naidus cadres have frequently engaged in violence to assert their local dominance. YSRs antecedents are substantially thuggish. In Kerala, the Left and the Right have always engaged in brutal murders against each other in an ideological battle for decades now. It would not be any different in Bihar, or Orissa or Maharashtra or Karnataka or Gujarat. Outside the cities, where the national media does not exist, it is brute power that works best in politics. Team Kejriwal has been successful so far because they have been taking genteel national politicians on in the streets of Delhi. Once they move to the states, not only will they face a paucity of urban volunteers to take the campaign to the hinterland, but also a scarcity of TV cameras to put themselves on prime-time. Perhaps that is why he has taken on the national parties first, and not the Mulayams, Mayawatis, Karunanidhis and regional powerhouses none of whom has a shining anti-corruption record. Taking these people head-on in their lairs means risking life and limb. Kejriwals movement could well face a reality check in Farukkhabad.
Vadragate: Fishier and fishier
Stench of funny business
Vadragate:
gets stronger
With every passing day, the DLF-Robert Vadra deals look curiouser and curiouser.
Vivek Kaul, Oct 16, 2012 in Haryana and Rajasthan, which have since gone up in value tremendously. The company also parked a part of this interest-free money in bank fixed deposits and earned an interest on it. And it also gave loans and advances to other Vadra owned companies.
alman Khurshid must be a relieved man today. Robert Vadra is back in the news. And this has happened thanks to three special stories that have appeared today in The Hindu, Business Standard and Financial Express. Read together these stories throw up some several interesting questions that need to be answered.
The Hindu points out that this plot of land was bought by Vadras Sky Light Hospitality as on 12 February 2008, and mutated in its favour the very next day. Mutation refers to a recording in the revenue record of transfer of title of the property from one person to other.
A little more than a month later, on March 28, 2008, the Town and Country Planning Department issued Mr Vadras company a licence to develop 2.701 acres of the land into a housing colony. .the enquiry found that Mr Vadra had entered into an agreement to sell within 65 days of the issue of the first licence. By October 2009, he had received Rs 50 crore out of the total sale consideration, the first installment of a) How did land bought at Rs 7.5 crore which was made on June 3, 2008, The Hindu rise in value to Rs 58 crore in a very short points out. period of 65 days? So what this means is that Vadra went to DLF At the heart of the DLF-Vadra controversy is to sell the 3.5 acre land within 65 days of having 3.5 acres of land which was bought by Sky Light got the necessary clearances from the Town and Hospitality Pvt Ltd a company in which Vadra Country Planning Department of the Haryana owns a 99.8 percent stake. Sky Light Hospitality government. What is interesting that The Hindu bought this piece of land in Manesar, Gurgaon, says that the sale deed of this land shows that it for Rs 15.38 crore (as per its balance-sheet) and was bought by Sky Light Hospitality for Rs. 7.5 sold it to DLF for Rs 58 crore pretty soon. DLF crore. The balance-sheets of Sky Light Hospigave an advance of Rs 50 crore to Vadras Sky tality as on 31 March 2009, 31 March 2010 and Light Hospitality against this sale. Sky Light 31 March 2011 put the cost of this land at Rs Hospitality used the money received from DLF 15.38 crore. to buy a slew of flats from DLF and land plots
DLF valued this 3.5 acres of land at Rs 58 crore. What had changed in a period of 65 days that led to the company giving the land such high value vis-a-vis the price Vadras Sky Light had bought it at? Haryana officials familiar with the deal say that the sequence of transactions in which the lands value went up from Rs. 7.5 crore to Rs 58 crore in just 65 days because of the licence given to it raises questions about whether DLF had entered into business with Mr Vadra in order to get clearances for land that may not have been forthcoming through regular methods, suggests The Hindu. Quid pro quo? b) Does DLF normally give three-year interest-free advances? DLF gave Vadra an advance of Rs 50 crore against the land it valued at Rs 58 crore. The Financial Express points out that DLF says that for theland, which it valued at Rs 58 crore, the advance of Rs 50 crore was paid to Vadra in three installments of Rs 5 crore, Rs 10 crore and Rs 35 crore crore during 2008-09. The first was when Vadra got the letter of intent from the Haryana government, the second installment was paid when Vadra got the actual licence from the state government to develop the land and the final installment came when all the other approvals and clearances were procured. The first installment was paid on 3 June 2008, but the sale deed of this land for Rs 58 crore to DLF was registered only on 18 September 2012, says The Hindu. In legal terms the process of registering a sale deed is referred to as conveyance which essentially means the transfer of ownership, or interest, in real property from the seller to the buyer by a document, such as a deed, lease, or mortgage. DLF had said in an earlier statement that Skylight Hospitality Pvt Ltd approached us in FY 2008-09 to sell a piece of land measuring approximately 3.5 acresDLF agreed to buy the said plot, given its licensing status and its attractiveness as a business proposition for a total consideration of Rs 58 crores. As per normal commercial practice, the possession of the said plot was taken over by DLF in FY 2008-09 itself
and a total sum of Rs 50 crores given as advance in installments against the purchase consideration. So what took DLF more than three years to conveyance this land even though they took possession of it in FY 2008-2009? As the Financial Express writes, The delay in getting the land registered has surprised experts who track the sector and have audited the account books of real estate firms. Normally, conveyancing of land gets done very quickly, especially for big developers. However, if one legally challenges the delay, both sides can cite several reasons for it, experts Financial Express spoke to said. DLF also had an explanation for the delay in getting the land conveyance. DLF sources say the delay in getting the land registered in its name was deliberate since the market at that time was going through a slowdown. Had we got the land conveyanced in our name during 2008-09 we would have to pay the balance Rs 8 crore to Vadra immediately, plus another around Rs 4 crore towards registration charges, DLF officials told Financial Express. Also 2008-09 was a time of slowdown and the company was not looking to launch any project then, DLF added. DLF had valued the land at Rs 58 crore. They had already paid Vadra an advance of Rs 50 crore. So they needed to pay him the balance Rs 8 crore after they had conveyanced the property. By delaying the conveyance till September 2012, the company made savings on interest costs, it feels. But what about the Rs 50 crore they had paid as an advance to Vadra in instalments, starting in June 2008? Wasnt the company losing out on interest on this money? An advance, unlike a loan, is made interest-free for a short period of time. This meant that Vadra had access to a part of the Rs 50 crore advance for a period of more than four years, given that the first installment was paid in June 2008. And he had access to the entire advance of Rs 50 crore for around three years. DLF, in its statement, refers to giving advances as normal commercial practice. But the question that crops up here is whether it is regular
practice for the company to give advances for such long periods of time? DLF has not been able to cite other instances of where interestfree advances have been given, and over such long periods of time, writes the Financial Express.
What this means is that Vadras Sky Light Hospitality issued cheques to pay the seller of the land without having enough money in the bank account. But wouldnt that lead to the cheques bouncing? That cheque, if presented, would have been dishonoured for want of funds and it would have been a criminal liability under the Negotiable Instruments Act. This also means that actually the person to whom the cheque(s) was/were issued was not at all paid and there were no arrangements with the bank to pay, said a senior chartered accountant. He said full scrutiny of the bank accounts could reveal the actual transactions that happened. My hunch is it is only a hunch, as there is no proof the agreement would have been executed between the seller and the company and in the agreement they would have mentioned cheque details but those cheque(s) were not deposited with the bank immediately as that would have been agreed, writes the Business Standard. So Vadras Sky Light bought the land, issued cheques to pay for it and at the same time ensured that the seller did not deposit those cheques. So how was the seller eventually paid? It is also possible that when money from DLF would have come in during the next financial year, these cheques were presented, the Business Standard points out. To conclude, it is well established by now that Robert Vadra, a private individual who happens to be the son-in-law of Sonia Gandhi, benefited from his dealings with DLF. What is difficult to establish is whether there was a quid pro quo involved as well. Hopefully, the newspapers will have more breaking news on this issue in the days to come.
c) Where did the initial money to buy land come from? The balance sheet of Sky Light Hospitality as on 31 March 2008 shows that the paid-up capital of the company was Rs 1 lakh. The company had no reserves or surplus, neither did it have any secured or unsecured loans on its books. So how did a company with Rs 1 lakh of capital available for business buy a piece of land worth Rs 7.5 crore (as per the sale deed), or Rs 15.38 crore (as per the balance-sheet of Sky Light Hospitality as on 31 March 2009)? The answer might lie in what Business Standard has to say today. Chartered accountants say the only other possibility is the company issued cheques far in excess of the money it had in its account, the paper writes.
nexus really works

Politicians, bureaucrats, big builders and the land mafia control the real estate market to the point where nobody can afford to buy a home. And it is this nexus that ensures prices do not crash as it would wipe out the value of their slush funds.
Sunainaa Chadha, Oct 16, 2012 ity, many politicians deposit a portion of their assets with developers. Builders then transfer back the assets to politicians which can be used to offset election expenses. These politicians, bureaucrats, big builders and the land mafia control the real estate market in most metros to the point where no genuine buyer can really afford to buy a home. And it is this very nexus that ensures prices do not crash as it would wipe out the value of their slush funds.
How the politician-builder
wing to the lack of a transparent political funding system, Indias politicians are rich in cash and the need for this kind of money in real estate makes them perfect partners for property developers. Robert Vadras dealings with DLF offer a perfect example of how this politician-builder nexus works. Politicians accumulate resources while in office and then require a place to invest it where they can avoid public scrutiny while earning a decent return. Because land is a valuable commod-
Here are four ways in which politicians jack up property prices for the mango people: 1. A big chunk of a politicians money goes towards acquiring land or property. Politicians, through developers, pick up land where they have inside information. A Delhi-based real estate expert told Firstpost that Vadra and the son of an important Delhi politician are rumoured to have picked up large parcels of land around the upcoming Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) Expressway. This area, where development began barely six to seven years ago, has now developed into an attractive destination. However, the duo picked up land even before the government had announced the master plan. Land in proximity to the expressway was to become the next big site for commercial and residential developments. Getting a flat allotted under the discretionary quota of governments is commonplace and beneficiaries include kin and friends of politicians. Take the case of Congress MP from West Delhi Mahabal Mishra. According to reports, Mishra helped his brother acquire prime land in Delhi. Mishra is said to have pleaded for a huge plot of premier land in Dwarka to be acquired by the government, then asked for some of the acquired land to be denotified, and ironically, his brother, a realtor ended up striking a deal for the denotified land too. (You can read the entire report here) The biggest scandal was Adarsh Housing, when various Congress politicians, including Ashok Chavan, acquired apartments for themselves and/or their family members when the land was actually approved for Kargil war widows. Land scams began in a major way in Maharashtra during the chief ministership of Sharad Pawar as he would dereserve prime plots for certain beneficiaries. One major scandal was the dereservation of the Vasai-Virar green belt into a residential zone, by which thousands of acres of land were freed for housing. Pawar was followed by others, who saw huge money in real estate. Shiv Sena leader Manohar Joshi, who was the chief minister from 1995-1999,lost his job because of adverse court observations about
how he favoured his son-in-law, a builder, to construct a township in Pune . A Tehelka story rightly says, Virtually everybody from top to bottom is on the gravy train and works overtime to provide illegal gains to realtors, rather than acting as custodians of public interest. Secondly, these politicians use several trusts as front companies to invest in real estate through the backdoor route. Several so-called educational institutions have been built by politicians with their slush money and a veneer of legitimacy is sought to be introduced in their wake. They are attracted to this as they can get huge amounts of land allotted to them in the garb of constructing an educational institution and more black money can be utilised in constructing the buildings and other facilities. Once they come to power, they can easily tweak the rules, and the land that was once allotted for a hospital or an educational institute will soon be used for residential or commercial purposes. As long as the asset is not in his name or his familys name, nobody can touch the politician. It is only when he leaves a trail does he get caught, the Delhi-based investor told Firstpost. The third and the most used model in the Delhi-NCR region is a direct black transaction. A politician will hand over Rs 100 crore to a builder for expansion, which will be returned to the politician once the project starts generating cash through sales to either investors or buyers. And this is why loans and advances have been a common industry practice to grow the business, especially of those operating in the commercial space such as offices, hotels and malls. A Business Standard report pointed out that most large real estate projects are developed through joint ventures or special purpose vehicles either to mitigate risks or regulatory restrictions on land ownership and provide loans or advances to joint ventures and subsidiaries as start-up capital. But in order to ensure the politician gets his cash and return on investment, builders use brokers and underwriters to use property as tradable commodities.
A builder can easily sell flats to investors at a token price of Rs 5 lakh for a Rs 1 crore property before the construction of a project begins. While the allotment of the flat would be in the name of the investor, the general power of attorney (where the buyer gets a GPA from the seller not only for his own use of the property, but for further sale to someone else if he so desires) ensures that the name of the buyer remains blank in the document, thus allowing the investor to sell the property further when the property appreciates in the next couple of months.
best can only double his gains? This is because investors come into the picture only at the marketing stage while the politician enters at the time of conceptualisation and manages to alter laws to suit his needs, said the same Delhi investor on condition of anonymity. And fourth is the white money transaction. The politician or bureaucrats illegal income is handed over in cash to a money launderer who deposits an equivalent sum in foreign exchange in Mauritius or some other tax haven, where it becomes perfectly legitimate. A company is then formed in the tax haven which invests the politicians money in a real estate company in India as FDI. You think it is the India growth story that is attracting foreign funds to invest in realty? It is Indian black money coming back to India as white money, a Mumbai-based developer told Firstpost on condition of anonymity. The politician here also gets preferential shares in the company at a low price. When he needs his money, he can sell the shares at market price. In other words, the realty company is just a front which functions as a bank for the politician. From getting money from developers during elections, these politicians soon started investing with developers, who became their bankers. The Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act empowers investigating agencies to summarily take over a property if it is proved to be benami, or is nominally in a particular persons name while having been paid for and actually belonging to another. But with politicians and bureaucrats themselves the biggest offenders, the act, passed in the 1980s when Rajiv Gandhi was prime minister, has never been enforced rigorously.
This is probably how Vadra made massive profits by buying several DLF flats in the pre-launch phase. A report in The Economic Times today highlighted that Vadra used part of the Rs 65 crore security-free loan from DLF to book 41 apartments in three of the companys premium projects: Aralias and Magnolias in Gurgaon and Capital Greens in Moti Nagar in Delhi in the pre-launch phase and has already sold 38 of the those flats at a profit. Basically what this means is he used the DLF money to strike bulk deals at throw-away bargains when projects were launched, and resold the flats at a higher price. But how does a politician manage to increase his wealth over five times while an investor at
More worms wriggle out of

DLF said in early 2007 that all its flats in Aralias were sold out. But it reported selling one to Robert Vadra in September 2008. Some clarifications are needed.
R Jagannathan, Oct 12, 2012 he more the media probes the DLFRobert Vadra property deals, the more doubtful does the explanation given by DLF look when juxtaposed against Vadras corporate balance-sheets filed with the Registrar of Companies (RoC). (You can read it all here)
DLF-Vadragate can
all the flats were completely sold out for an average price of Rs 2,548 per sq ft? A few days ago, Business Standard, quoting from a Sky Light balance-sheet, suggested that Corporation Banks Friends Colony branch might have advanced Vadra an overdraft of Rs 7.94 crore which may have been used to buy 3.5 acres of Manesar land that was subsequently sold to DLF for a huge profit. Today, the newspaper reports that Corporation Bank flatly denies having given the overdraft to Vadras company. The bank said: We have gone though (sic) our records and do not find that any such facility was granted to M/s Sky Light Hospitality as has been reported. So does this mean Vadras balance-sheet statement filed with the RoC is misleading? Or is the bank HQ unaware of what its branch did? If the bank did not give the money, how did Vadra buy the land? Both RoC and the Reserve Bank have some poking around to do here. Another Business Standard report suggests that the flat in The Aralias project sold to Vadra could not have come directly from DLF. The newspaper quotes DLFs IPO prospectus which claimed, in January 2007, that All the apartments in The Aralias have already been sold. The Draft Red Herring Prospectus shows The Aralias as being among the completed projects, with a sales value of Rs 400 crore being reported at an average price of Rs 2,548 per sq ft. If these flats were already completed and sold,
Todays Business Standard and The Economic Times offer new angles to their stories published earlier this week. Doubts are now arising over the following: One, who actually financed Vadras company Sky Light Hospitality to enable him to buy the Rs 15.38 crore property in Manesar (Village Sikohpur), Haryana, which was subsequently sold to DLF for Rs 58 crore in 2008-09? Two, why did DLF pay higher-than-market prices for the Manesar land? Three, in another deal, how can DLF claim it sold a luxury apartment in its Aralias complex in Gurgaon to Vadra at Rs 12,000 per square foot when it said almost two years earlier that
how does this square with DLFs statement last week that the flat was bought by Vadra in September 2008, unless it was a second sale. DLF said: Mr Vadra purchased one apartment for his personal use in Aralias in September 2008 at the then prevalent market price of Rs 12,000 psft (per sq ft). The total purchase consideration of Rs 11.90 crore was paid by Mr Vadra, for which the apartment was conveyanced in his favour. Did DLF actually sell the flat to Vadra in September 2008 when it had already sold everything out (according to the prospectus, read here), or did it convince an early investor to on-sell the apartment to Vadra? Some clarity is required here. DLFs statement said: We may also mention that while Aralias was initially launched at Rs 1,800 psft, Mr Vadras purchase at Rs 12,000 psft is among the highest prices at which the company sold the apartments in Aralias. Here the company is clearly saying that it (i.e. DLF ) had sold the flat, and not some investor who bought it earlier. Something doesnt add up here. Sebi should be nosing around here, too. The Economic Times points out yet another incongruity in the Sikohpur/Manesar land deal. Todays paper says that DLF paid more for the
3.5 acres in Manesar. It quotes property dealers in the area as saying that land in 2008-09 did not cost more than Rs 1,500 per sq ft, but DLF paid Vadra Rs 2,800 per sq ft (psf). DLF said in its statement last week: The average cost of the licensed property in the hands of DLF works out to approx Rs 2,800 psf of FSI, which was comparable with similar transactions in that area. The price of the said property has significantly appreciated today to the benefit of DLF and its shareholders. But ET quotes Anckur Srivasttava, a real estate consultant, as saying that the FSI cost in that part of Gurgaon was not more than Rs 1,500 per sq ft then and is not more than Rs 2,500 per sq ft today. In short, not only did DLF pay a handsome price then, but it is handsome even by todays prices. From Sky Lights balance-sheet, it was always clear that Vadra turned a Rs 15.38 crore investment into a Rs 58 crore sale for a profit of over Rs 42 crore. Now, this stands confirmed from the ground too. Vadra did get an overpriced payoff from DLF.
Did Vadra pay Rs 14 cr tax on his gains,
or did FM jump the gun?

Robert Vadras sweetheart deal with DLF does not show payment of capital gains on his land purchase and sale. The FM needs to give his balance-sheet another look
Vivek Kaul, Oct 12, 2012
few days back, Finance Minister P Chidambaram gave a clean chit to Robert Vadra and his dealings with DLF. All I can say is at this moment these allegations pertain to transactions between two private persons or entities. The individual (Vadra, son-in-law of Sonia Gandhi) has disclosed all these transactions in his income tax and other returns, and perhaps in the returns of the company, Chidambaram is quoted by DNA as saying.
Sky Light Hospitality has an issued capital of Rs 5 lakh. Of this Robert Vadra owns 49,900 shares and his mother Maureen owns 100 shares. Sometime in 2008-09, the company bought a plot of land in Manesar, Haryana, of 3.5 acres. This can be said because the balancesheet of the company as on 31 March 2009 shows this entry. But the balance-sheet in the previous year does not show it. The cost of this plot of land is stated to be Rs 15.38 crore in the balance-sheet. Against this plot of land DLF gave Sky Light an advance of Rs 50 crore by valuing the land at Rs 58 crore. As the company said in a statement on 6 October, Skylight Hospitality Pvt Ltd approached us in FY 2008-09 (i.e. between 1 April 2008 and 31 March 2009) to sell a piece of land measuring approximately 3.5 acresDLF agreed to buy the said plot, given its licensing status and its attractiveness as a business proposition for a total consideration of Rs 58 crore. As per normal commercial practice, the possession of the said plot was taken over by DLF in FY 2008-09 itself and a total sum of Rs 50 crore given as advance in instalments against the purchase consideration. So what does this mean in simple English? It means that Vadras Sky Light Hospitality approached DLF to sell the 3.5 acres of land it had bought at Rs 15.38 crore. DLF valued this land at Rs 58 crore and gave Vadras company an advance of Rs 50 crore against this land. (To read Why DLFs claim of an advance to Vadra doesnt hold up, click here). Now, this is where the tax question come in since Sky Light Hospitality would have made a capital gain on the transaction.
Firstpost has already explained how Vadra gained in various ways from his dealings with DLF. (You can read it here). A close reading of the Income Tax Act, balance-sheets of Sky Light Hospitality Pvt Ltd, a company owned by Vadra, and the statement issued by DLF suggest that Chidambaram could have jumped the gun in trying to give Vadra a clean chit. These documents suggest that Vadras Sky Light Hospitality may not have paid tax amounting to Rs 14.1 crore. Heres how we arrived at this conclusion.
DLF clearly points out in its statement that it took possession of the 3.5 acres of land from Sky Light Hospitality in the financial 2008-09. The statement further points out that After receipt of all requisite approvals, the said property was conveyanced in favour of DLF. From this statement it is not clear when the land was conveyanced in favour of DLF. In legal terms, conveyance essentially means the transfer of ownership or interest in real property from the seller to the buyer by a document, such as a deed, lease, or mortgage. In this case, the 3.5 acre land, which was owned by Sky Light, was transferred to DLF after it was conveyanced. This essentially means that Vadras Sky Light Hospitality would have made a capital gain on the transfer of the land to DLF. Sky Light Hospitality bought the land at Rs 15.38 crore and sold it at Rs 58 crore and thus made a profit of Rs 42.62 crore in the process. On this capital gain, Sky Light Hospitality would have to pay either a long-term capital gains tax or a short-term capital gains tax depending on its period of holding. A capital gain made on selling land is categorised as long-term only if the land is sold after three years of owning it. In this case the capital gain is taxed at the rate of 20 percent indexed for inflation. Otherwise, the gain is categorised as short-term and added to the income for that particular year and taxed at the rate of a little over 33 percent (30 percent tax + 10 percent surcharge on tax, plus cess). Since DLFs statement does not tell us when exactly the 3.5 acres was conveyanced in its favour from Sky Light, we cannot determine whether the gain is a short-term capital gain or a longterm one. Also, the balance-sheets of Sky Light Hospitality do not show an entry for advance tax paid of Rs 14.1 crore, or provision for tax of Rs 14.1 crore in the financial years ending March 2009, March 2010 and March 2011. If a company has already paid a tax, it shows it as an advance tax on the asset side of the balancesheet. If it hasnt, it needs to show it as provision for tax on the liabilities side. One interpretation that can be made is that the conveyance of the 3.5 acres of land must have
happened in the financial year 2011-12. This means the tax entry should be available in the balance-sheet of Sky Light for the year ending 31 March 2012. This is not currently available in the public domain. Also, this land is shown as a fixed asset worth Rs 15.38 crore on the balance-sheet of Sky Light Hospitality as on 31 March 2011. If the land had been conveyanced in favour of DLF it couldnt have been asset on the balance-sheet of Sky Light Hospitality. But there is a twist in the tale here. The Income Tax Act suggests that a piece of land can be said to have been transferred even without the execution of the transfer deed, subject to certain conditions. The income tax angle It is important to look at what Section 2(47), which includes the following points (this might sound pretty complicated but hold on for the explanation that follows): (v) any transaction involving the allowing of the possession of any immovable property to be taken or retained in part performance of a contract of the nature referred to in section 53A of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882 (4 of 1882) ; or (vi) any transaction (whether by way of becoming a member of, or acquiring shares in, a cooperative society, company or other association of persons or by way of any agreement or any arrangement or in any other manner whatsoever) which has the effect of transferring, or enabling the enjoyment of, any immovable property (the italics are mine). Thus the definition of transfer in Section 2(47) of the Act is inclusive and, therefore, extends to events and transactions which may not otherwise be transfer according to its ordinary, popular and natural sense. What this means in simple English is that a property might have said to been transferred from the buyer to the seller even though the actual transfer of the title deed may not have been executed. The statement issued by DLF clearly says that the possession of 3.5 acres of land was taken over by DLF in FY 2008-09 itself, which means it was enjoying the benefits of
the land, even though the title deed of the land may not have been executed. Also DLF gave Sky Light Hospitality a total sum of Rs 50 crore given as advance in installments against the purchase consideration. The judicial interpretations made by the Division Bench of the Bombay High Court in the Chatrabhuj Kapadia vs CIT (2003)case and the Authority of Advance Ruling, New Delhi, in 2007 (AAR No 724 of 2006), have held that the receipt of a substantial consideration and handing over possession amounts to transfer liable to capital gains tax. DLF paid Vadras Sky Light Hospitality an advance of Rs 50 crore in instalments and took possession of the land even though the title deed may (or may not) have been executed. This Rs 50 crore was advanced against a total value of the land of Rs 58 crore and can be construed to be a substantial consideration and accordingly needed to be taxed. But for this, if two parties do not execute the sales deed/conveyance, they may be able to postpone tax indefinitely. To plug such a loophole, this provision was inserted. It provides that even when the transfer of title deed is not executed, if the possession is handed over and if consideration is paid in part/substantial/total, it is a transaction liable to taxation. So what does this imply? This implies that Vadras Sky Light Hospitality would have to pay a tax on the capital gain it had made in the process. The capital gain for Sky Light Hospitality is Rs 42.68 crore (Rs 58 crore, the price at which DLF bought the land Rs 15.38 crore, the price at which the company bought the land). This capital gain will be categorised as a short-term capital gain as the land was sold within three years of having been bought. As mentioned earlier, Sky Light Hospitality bought the land in 2008-2009 and, as per the Income Tax Act, it is deemed to have transferred the land to DLF within the same financial year. This means the short-term capital gain of Rs 42.68 crore will be taxed at 33 percent. This works out to a tax of Rs 14.1 crore (33 percent of Rs 42.68 crore).
Did Sky Light Hospitality pay this tax? This is where things get very interesting. The advance of Rs 50 crore from DLF is visible as a current liability in the balance-sheet of Sky Light as on 31 March 2010 and so is the 3.5 acre land valued at Rs 15.38 crore. If the tax of Rs 14.08 crore was paid it would be visible as advance tax on the asset side of the balance-sheet. The advance tax in the balance-sheet is at Rs 6.93 lakh. If the tax had not been paid it should have been visible on the liability side under the head provision for tax. The provision for income tax is Rs 11.41 lakh. So the tax probably wasnt paid in the financial year 2009-2010. What about the balance-sheet as on 31 March 2011? The provision for income tax is Rs 24.57 lakh. I couldnt find the exact number for the advance tax paid. But the total amount of loans and advances under the head current assets stood at around Rs 32.1 lakh, which is a lot lesser than Rs 14.08 crore. So there is no question of the tax having been paid in the financial year 2010-2011 either. The same stands true for the balance-sheet as on 31 March 2009. The advance tax is at Rs 69,257. And the provision for income tax is at Rs 75,000. So the income tax wasnt paid in the financial year 2008-2009. Hence Vadras Sky Light Hospitality may not have paid the income tax it was required to pay as per the provisions of the IT Act, the statement issued by DLF and the balance-sheets of Sky Light Hospitality available in the public domain. The question: did Chidambaram jump the gun on Vadras taxes? Of has Vadra paid up and the figure is hidden somewhere else in some less accessible part of his balance-sheet? Mr Chidambaram should ask his taxmen to take another look-see.
mislead on Vadra-DLF deal?

he Congress has attempted to defend Robert Vadra and the Haryana government pointing out that the Supreme Court had stayed the high courts verdict that anti-corruption Arvind Kejriwal had brandished as evidence against them. But is their defence more misleading than proof that there was no wrongdoing by DLF, Robert Vadra and the Haryana government? According to Dushyant Dave, senior Supreme Court lawyer, there is more than prima facie evidence to point towards impropriety in Vadras public dealings. He also said that the Supreme Court stay that Congress was talking about on the Punjab and Haryana HC order was misleading. The stay came in place because the Attorney General had appeared for the Haryana government during the vacation court. The order was stayed because no one bothered to challenge the stay in these two years, he clarified. The lawyer said that Vadras role in the alleged scandal should be investigated much in the same way as Jagan Reddy was probed. The entire countrys machinery was used to help him (Vadra) to get away with misusing his position. The Income Tax department should swoop down on him, he told CNN-IBN. Psephologist Yogendra Yadav, who has been
Congress using SC stay to
FP Staff, Oct 11, 2012 backing India Against Corruption (IAC), also refuted the allegation that they had produced erroneous or forged documents. Not one media house has found that the documents are forged, he said. I have three simple questions. Was Vadra doing a healthy, ethical business practice that every business should emulate? Is the conduct of the Haryana government fair? Is his (Vadras) conduct an example of public morality considering his proximity to the Gandhi family? Yadav said Vadra has been accused of creating five companies over the last five years and his wealth had grown from a mere 50 lakh to over 300 crore over the time period. And if the accusations levelled against him regarding DLF werent enough, he has also been accused of getting benefits to invest in real estate in Mewat, one of the most backward regions of Haryana allegedly with the help of the Haryana government. Yadav demanded an independent and fair probe into the entire Robert Vadra DLF dealings. There was a conspiracy of silence on this issue and both media and government participated in it. Everyone is now uncomfortable because a rank outsider came forward and exposed what was already known, he said.
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