Emaar Properties faces FIR on MGF's complaint after Gurugram court order

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On a Gurugram court's direction, police here have booked UAE-based realtor company Emaar Properties PJSC, its Indian subsidiary Emaar India and 13 others for allegedly cheating its former business partner MGF through undervaluation of land and other offences.

Emaar India, in a statement, denied any "association of criminality with this issue" and alleged that it "appears to be nothing but another attempt by MGF to further harass Emaar and its employees.

Following an order by Chief Judicial Magistrate Ramesh Chander on November 18, the FIR was registered on November 20 against EMAAR Properties PJSC and its Indian subsidiary, Emaar India Ltd, its director Bharat Bhushan Garg and others, the police said.

The case was registered under various sections including 406 (criminal breach of trust), 418 (cheating with knowledge), 471 (using forged document), 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC at the Sector 29 police station, they said.

According to the complaint filed by Saurabh Singh on behalf of MGF Development Limited, the land in sectors 63, 74A, 76, 81, 85 and 90 in Gurugram was allegedly grossly undervalued by Jones Lang Laselle (JLL), an independent valuer, at the behest of EMAAR, and its officers by creating forged and false valuation reports to cause wrongful loss to the complainant.

The company also allegedly exploited the warranty indemnity agreement (WIA) and litigation indemnity agreement (LIA) and committed serious cognisable offences for getting wrongful gain for themselves and wrongful loss to the complainant.

The complainant further said that a detailed investigation was required into the aspect of how the accused came up with the valuation of the lands at low prices when the adjacent lands were being sold in the market at much higher prices.

The accused have generated proceeds of crime from their illegal acts which needs to be seized immediately and criminal conspiracy unearthed.

"The accused were in the process of committing further offences against the complainant including destroying the evidence that proves the commission of the offences committed by them, influencing the witnesses who have knowledge about various facets of their illegal acts, the complaint alleged.

A senior police officer said that a further probe is underway.

In its press statement, Emaar India said, "We strongly deny any association of criminality with this issue. As a responsible corporate entity, Emaar group has been acting in accordance with the law and will continue to uphold the highest ethical standards of business conduct."

MGF has approached the authorities twice before with EOW Gurgaon and Delhi and both the agencies have found no criminality or merit in the allegations of MGF.

"While the matter is sub judice, this appears to be nothing but another attempt by MGF to further harass Emaar and its employees, the statement alleged.