In another offshoot of the AgustaWestland controversy, real estate developer Emaar MGF has denied having links with Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s close aide Kanishka Singh. The company’s statement comes after the Bharatiya Janata Party accused Singh of holding shares in Emaar MGF, which AgustaWestland accused Guido Ralph Haschke had briefly headed.

The AgustaWestland helicopter deal, which has snowballed into a huge controversy, relates to an agreement where the United Progressive Alliance was to buy 12 helicopters from the British-Italian firm for around Rs 3,600 crore. The deal was put on hold after Italy arrested the head of Finmeccanica, AgustaWestland’s parent company on charges that the company paid bribes to win the contract.

Congress chief Sonia Gandhi has also said her son's purchase of shops in a Delhi mall owned by Emaar MGF had nothing to do with the AgustaWestland controversy, NDTV reported. BJP MP Kirit Somaiya on Tuesday said Rahul Gandhi had bought shops in a Delhi mall owned by Emaar MGF in 2005. The company was reportedly founded by Kanishka Singh’s relatives, and in 2009 Haschke was appointed to its board of directors. Haschke, an alleged middleman in the AgustaWestland helicopter deal, was “an independent non-executive director for an extremely brief period of two months and twelve days only”, the company was reported as saying.

Emaar MGF also appointed Delhi lawyer Gautam Khaitan, another accused in the helicopter deal, to its board in September 2009, The Indian Express said. Both Haschke and Khaitan were arrested for their alleged involvement in the AgustaWestland deal. However, Kanishka Singh has also denied links with the company. Singh told The Indian Express that he “has absolutely nothing to do with the matter” and that he has been estranged from the family that owns Emaar MGF since 2005.