Chopper scam: Rahul Gandhi bought 2 shops at market rates, says Emaar MGF

New Delhi: Realty firm Emaar MGF on Wednesday said it had sold two shops to Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi in a shopping mall here in December 2005 at market rates and rejected allegations that they were leased or bought back by the company.

Emaar MGF said the allegations levelled against it by BJP MP Kirit Somaiya are "completely false, baseless and malicious in nature" and the company reserves its right to take appropriate legal remedy.

Somaiya has dragged Emaar MGF into the controversy involving alleged kickbacks paid for the VVIP chopper deal.

Emaar MGF said that these two shops at the Metropolitan Mall, in Saket, South Delhi, were sold to Gandhi for about Rs 1.47 crore at the rate of Rs 9,750 per sq ft. These shops were later sold by the Congress Vice President in February 2010 to Worli Realty Pvt Ltd.

"...our group company had sold 2 shops in Metropolitan Saket Mall to Shri Rahul Gandhi in 6 December 2005. The shops were never leased nor bought back by the company from Shri Rahul Gandhi at any time," Emaar MGF said in a statement.

The transaction was commercial and commensurate with market rate of the day, a fact evident from records of other transactions during same period, the company added.

"Further, as per the records the shops were further sold to Worli Realty Pvt Ltd on 4 February 2010. Worli Realty Pvt Ltd is not related to any of our companies and/or promoters," the statement said.

Emaar MGF, whose name has earlier cropped up in some other controversies as well including the one related to the Commonwealth Games, is a joint venture between Dubai-based Emaar Properties and India's MGF Developments Ltd.

This entire transaction was transparent and well disclosed publicly in the past, the company said. "Any and all allegations against the company as levied by Shri Kirit Somaiya are completely false, baseless and malicious in nature. The company reserves its right to take appropriate legal remedy in this matter," Emaar MGF said.

The company also released a list of shops sold by it during 2003-04, 2004-05, 2005-06 financial years, which showed that other buyers got the shops at a lower rates than Gandhi.

While Gandhi bought the two shops, measuring 996.98 sq ft and 514.44 sq ft, at Rs 9,750/sq ft, the other buyers paid in the range of Rs 4,500-9,600 during the 2005-06 fiscal.