印度房產帝國背後的甘地家族勢力

A taciturn man in a black SUV started buying up tracts of arid agricultural land around this small town in the western Indian state of Rajasthan in 2009.

2009年，一名坐在黑色運動型多用途車(簡稱SUV)內的沉默男子開始在印度西部拉賈斯坦邦的小鎮戈拉耶德(Kolayat)周邊購買大片乾旱貧瘠的農用土地。

He would sit in the parking lot outside the one-story concrete building that houses the land office and dole out cash for sellers from the back seat, according to real-estate brokers and a local government land official.

據房地產經紀人和當地政府一位土地官員透露，這名男子會把車停在土地辦公室所在的一座一層混凝土建築外的停車場裏，從汽車後座向賣地的人派發現金。

The buyer represented by the man in the SUV, according to state land records, was Robert Vadra, a member of India's powerful Nehru-Gandhi political clan, whose Congress Party leads the country today and has for much of its more-than-66-year post-colonial history.

拉賈斯坦邦的土地記錄顯示，坐在SUV裏的男子所代表的買家是羅伯特・瓦德拉(Robert Vadra)。瓦德拉是印度勢力強大的尼赫魯-甘地(Nehru-Gandhi)政治家族成員，由這個家族掌控的國民大會黨(Congress, 簡稱：國大黨)目前是印度的執政黨，印度獨立66年來，大多數時間均由該黨執政。

Soon after he began buying, the federal government announced plans to promote large-scale solar-energy production, a land-intensive project for which the area was well-suited. He continued buying land, and in 2011 the state, too, announced solar incentives. The value of the land Mr. Vadra bought soared sixfold within three years, a state record of land transactions shows.

瓦德拉出手買地後不久，聯邦政府便宣佈了推進大規模太陽能發電項目的計劃，而太陽能發電正是非常適合當地的土地密集型項目。瓦德拉隨後繼續購買土地，到了2011年，拉賈斯坦邦政府也宣佈了太陽能產業刺激計劃。該邦一項土地交易記錄顯示，瓦德拉所購買的土地價值在三年之內飆升了五倍。

State officials say they are investigating whether there were any legal violations, such as exceeding land-purchase limits, in the investments by Mr. Vadra, who is the son-in-law of Congress party President Sonia Gandhi and brother-in-law of Rahul Gandhi, the leader of Congress's campaign in elections now under way.

拉賈斯坦邦官員表示，他們正在調查瓦德拉的投資有沒有違反法律，比如是否超出了土地購買上限。瓦德拉是印度國大黨主席索尼婭・甘地(Sonia Gandhi)的女婿，也是目前正在國大黨競選活動中擔任領袖的拉胡爾・甘地(Rahul Gandhi)的妹夫。

A spokesman for Mr. Vadra said he is a private citizen who has been subjected to a campaign to malign him for political reasons. 'He has acquired and disposed of real estate in exercise of his rights and has obtained no favor or benefit from anyone,' the spokesman said. 'He has complied with all applicable provisions of law and has nothing further to say.'

瓦德拉的發言人稱，瓦德拉只是一名普通公民，有人出於政治目的搞了一場針對他的誹謗活動。這名發言人表示：“瓦德拉在購買和處置房地產時行使的是他的合法權利，他並沒有從任何人那裏獲得過照顧或好處。瓦德拉嚴格遵守了所有相關法律條款。他要說的就這麼多。”

As Indians go to the polls in a weekslong parliamentary election, a powerful force is resentment by many over the ease with which politicians of most parties, bureaucrats and people close to them have prospered while the country struggles to meet the basic needs of the masses. A growing belief that the economic playing field is tilted too far in favor of those with political connections is helping drive a voter revolt against the ruling Congress party and fueling a surge in support for its main rival, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP.

在印度爲期一週的議會選舉中，民憤形成了一股強大的影響力，大多數政黨的政客、官僚以及他們身邊的人都能輕鬆聚斂財富，而整個國家卻還在爲滿足民衆的基本需求苦苦掙扎，這種狀況令許多人感到憤怒。越來越多的人認爲，經濟天平向那些有政治後臺的人傾斜得太厲害，促使選民拋棄執政黨國大黨，轉而支持其主要競爭對手、印度民族主義政黨印度人民黨(Bharatiya Janata Party, 簡稱：人民黨)。

A Pew Research survey found that 83% of Indians consider corruption a 'very big' problem. The subject of corruption is repeatedly discussed on television talk shows and in political speeches. India has endured a stream of abuse-of-power scandals during Congress's 10 years in office, on matters ranging from jobs at the state railway to coal-mining licenses, helicopter purchasing and cellphone bandwidth.

皮尤研究中心(Pew Research)一項調查發現，83%的印度人認爲腐敗是一個“很嚴重的”問題。腐敗是電視談話節目和政治演講中反覆討論的話題。在國大黨執政的10年間，印度發生過一系列濫用職權的醜聞，涉及邦鐵路職位、煤礦開採許可證、直升機採購和手機帶寬等方方面面。

'Never in my lifetime have I seen the kind of cynicism that the current government in Delhi has generated among the middle classes,' said Jyotirmaya Sharma, a University of Hyderabad political scientist. 'It's phenomenal.'

海得拉巴大學(University of Hyderabad)的政治學家喬蒂馬亞・夏爾馬(Jyotirmaya Sharma)表示：“中產階級對新德里本屆政府的犬儒主義態度空前強烈，是我這輩子從未見到過的。這真是非常驚人。”

Congress party leaders have acknowledged the voter outcry and said they are doing their best to combat the problem.

國大黨領導人已經注意到選民的強烈不滿，他們表示正在盡最大努力解決腐敗問題。

As India has urbanized, real-estate investing has become a route to quick wealth for some. People with connections or inside knowledge can position themselves to profit as property changes hands, including by helping speed approvals through a bureaucracy notoriously arbitrary and slow to act.

在已經走向城市化的印度，房地產投資成爲一些人迅速斂財的捷徑。有關係或知道內幕消息的人在房產交易中擁有更多獲利優勢，比方說，印度官僚機構雖有專橫跋扈和行動遲緩的惡名，但這些人卻能迅速通過審批。

'A section of India has become prosperous, unimaginably rich,' said Sudheendra Kulkarni, a onetime adviser to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee of the BJP who runs a think tank and is critical of politicians across the spectrum.

曾擔任過人民黨前總理阿塔爾・瓦傑帕伊(Atal Bihari Vajpayee)顧問的蘇丁德拉・庫爾卡尼(Sudheendra Kulkarni)表示：“印度有一部分人已經變得非常富有，富有程度超出想象。”庫爾卡尼目前運營一家智庫，他對政界普遍持批評態度。

It is hard to know how much property people really own. The wealthy and politically connected in India sometimes hold large amounts in the names of others -- from servants to shell companies -- to avoid tax officials and corruption investigators, said R.H. Tahiliani, former chairman of the India chapter of Transparency International, the global anticorruption group.

我們很難了解這些人究竟擁有多少財富。全球反腐敗組織透明國際(Transparency International)印度分會前主席R・H・塔希爾亞尼(R.H. Tahiliani)表示，爲了逃稅和躲避反腐敗調查，印度有錢、有政治後臺的人有時候會把鉅額財富放在他人名下（比如侍從和殼公司等）。

No legal authority has accused Mr. Vadra of any wrongdoing. An investigative committee appointed by the state of Haryana's Congress-led government reviewed one transaction questioned by a land official in 2012 and cleared Mr. Vadra. The Congress party said that Mr. Vadra is a private citizen engaged in business and hasn't done anything wrong.

並沒有法律機構指控瓦德拉有任何違法行爲。由哈里亞納邦(Haryana)國大黨領導的政府任命的一個調查委員會2012年對某土地官員質疑的一項交易進行了審查，未發現瓦德拉有違法行爲。國大黨稱，瓦德拉是從事房地產生意的普通公民，沒有任何違法行爲。

India Against Corruption, an activist group, has criticized some of Mr. Vadra's deals and accused him of enriching himself through transactions with a property developer. The group has called for a new probe of his business that it says would be more politically independent than the one begun in 2012.

活動人士團體印度反腐敗組織(India Against Corruption)指責瓦德拉的一些交易涉嫌違規，並指控他通過與一家房地產開發商的交易爲己大舉斂財。該組織呼籲，應對瓦德拉的業務展開比2012年開始的調查更具政治獨立性的新一輪調查。

The Wall Street Journal found that during the decade Mr. Vadra's in-laws have held sway in New Delhi, the 44-year-old with a high-school education and no experience in property development amassed a large real-estate portfolio. Based on a review of company filings, land records and interviews with property experts, the Journal calculated that through 2012, Mr. Vadra sold more than $12 million of property, and as of then he still held real estate valued at about $42 million. It isn't clear whether Mr. Vadra's companies have sold any more real estate since then because company filings for the past two years aren't available on government websites.

《華爾街日報》(The Wall Street Journal)發現，現年44歲，高中文化程度，且無房地產開發經驗的瓦德拉在姻親執掌新德里政權的十年間聚斂了大量房地產資產。《華爾街日報》根據見到的公司文件、土地記錄和對房地產專家的採訪計算出，截至2012年，瓦德拉出售了價值超過1,200萬美元的房產，賣出這些房產之後，他仍擁有價值4,200萬美元左右的房地產資產。我們不清楚瓦德拉的公司此後有沒有出售更多的房地產，因爲政府網站上沒有公佈近兩年的公司文件。

Mr. Vadra married into India's political nobility in 1997 when he wed Priyanka Gandhi, a daughter of Sonia Gandhi and the late Rajiv Gandhi, prime minister from 1984 to 1989. Priyanka Gandhi's great-grandfather was independence leader Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister. Her grandmother, Indira Gandhi, served as prime minister for 15 years in two stints.

瓦德拉1997年與普里揚卡・甘地(Priyanka Gandhi)結婚，躋身印度政治顯貴階層。普里揚卡・甘地是索尼婭・甘地和1984年至1989年在位的已故前總理拉吉夫・甘地(Rajiv Gandhi)的女兒。普里揚卡・甘地的曾祖父是印度民族獨立領袖、首任總理賈瓦哈拉爾・尼赫魯(Jawaharlal Nehru)。她的祖母英迪拉・甘地(Indira Gandhi)先後擔任過兩屆總理，在位時間達15年。

When Congress, with Sonia Gandhi at the helm, retook power from the BJP in 2004, Mr. Vadra was running a small business exporting inexpensive costume jewelry. In late 2007 he went into the real-estate business, forming a firm called Sky Light Hospitality Private Ltd. with less than $2,000, according to company filings at the Registrar of Companies of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs in New Delhi.

2004年，當索尼婭・甘地領導的國大黨從人民黨手中奪回政權時，瓦德拉還在經營一家出口廉價時尚珠寶的小公司。新德里企業事務部公司註冊處(Registrar of Companies of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs)提供的公司文件顯示，瓦德拉從2007年年底開始做房地產生意，組建了一家名爲Sky Light Hospitality Private Ltd.、註冊資本不到2,000美元的公司。

Early in 2008, Sky Light bought 3.5 acres of undeveloped land near a highway intersection in the New Delhi suburb of Gurgaon for $1.3 million, according to a sales document. Two months later, Mr. Vadra applied to the Congress-controlled state government for a license to convert the land to commercial use from agricultural. Preliminary permission was granted 18 days later, according to the license application and state approval. With that, the land became far more valuable.

一份銷售文件顯示，2008年初，Sky Light斥資130萬美元在新德里市郊古爾岡(Gurgaon)靠近公路交叉口處購置了3.5英畝未開發的土地。兩個月後，瓦德拉向由國大黨控制的邦政府申請將這塊土地由農用改爲商用的許可證。與許可證申請和邦政府審批相關的資料顯示，政府在18天后頒發了初步許可。有了這張許可證，這塊地的身價大大提高。

Over the next four years, developer DLF Ltd. poured millions of dollars into Mr. Vadra's company, reported on its balance sheet as 'advances.' Then in 2012, DLF said it bought the Gurgaon property from Mr. Vadra's company for a total of $9.7 million, most of which it had advanced in the preceding years. It was more than seven times his reported purchase price.

在接下來的四年裏，開發商DLF Ltd.爲瓦德拉的公司注入了數百萬美元，這些錢在該公司資產負債表中顯示爲“預付款”。接下來，DLF 2012年稱其以970萬美元的總價從瓦德拉的公司購買了古爾岡地產，其中多數款項DLF已在之前幾年預付。該售價比瓦德拉公佈的買價高出六倍以上。

A senior official at the Haryana state land office, Ashok Khemka, looked into the deal and concluded Mr. Vadra's company 'did not own the resources to pay' for the land when purchasing it in 2008. Suspecting irregularities, he moved to cancel the deal.

哈里亞納邦土地辦公室高級官員阿肖像克・赫姆卡(Ashok Khemka)對此項交易進行過調查，並得出結論稱，瓦德拉的公司2008年買地時“沒有足夠的資源來支付”土地款項。因懷疑交易存在違規，他試圖取消此項交易。

The state's chief minister, a Congress party politician, ordered Mr. Khemka transferred to a position in a state-run agricultural company. The chief minister and his staff didn't respond to requests for comment. Mr. Khemka, a whistleblower in a number of past allegations of corruption, said he has been transferred numerous times in his 22-year civil-service career to foil his gadfly efforts.

屬於國大黨陣營的哈里亞納邦邦長下令將赫姆卡調至一家國營農業公司任職。這位邦長和他手下的官員未迴應置評要求。曾揭發過多起腐敗案的赫姆卡表示，在他22年的公務員生涯中，他曾因揭黑而被調動過許多次。

According to government filings, Sky Light Hospitality said it paid for the land in 2008 with a loan from state-owned Corporation Bank. In 2012, the bank's then-chairman was quoted by the Times of India as saying there 'was no such transaction with us as per our records so far.' That official has left the bank and couldn't be reached; the new bank chairman declined to comment.

政府文件顯示，Sky Light Hospitality稱，2008年該公司是用從國有銀行Corporation Bank獲得的貸款購買土地的。但2012年《印度時報》(Times of India)援引該銀行當時的董事長的話稱，“根據我們迄今爲止的記錄，該公司與我行並無這類信貸往來”。這名董事長已經離開該銀行，無法與他取得聯繫；而新任董事長則拒絕置評。

In a report to the state last year, Mr. Khemka wrote that the 2008 sale of the land to Mr. Vadra's company 'was a completely sham transaction.' The state-appointed investigative committee looked at the deal and concluded Mr. Vadra did nothing wrong. Congress's political opponents expressed skepticism about the result on the grounds that committee members were state employees subject to transfer or discipline.

赫姆卡去年在向該邦提交的報告中寫道，2008年向瓦德拉的公司出售土地“純屬虛假交易”。由該邦任命的調查委員會審查了此項交易，並得出結論稱，瓦德拉沒有任何不當行爲。但國大黨的政治對手們對調查結果表示懷疑，因爲委員會成員是該邦一些受調動或紀律制約的公務員。

Mr. Vadra's Sky Light Hospitality did other deals in New Delhi and the nearby states of Haryana and Rajasthan. In 2008-09, it paid $5.3 million for a 50% interest in a hotel being built by DLF in New Delhi, a hotel valued at $33 million in 2012, according to a DLF calculation that year.

瓦德拉的Sky Light Hospitality在新德里及附近的哈里亞納邦和拉賈斯坦邦還進行過其他一些交易。在2008到2009年期間，Sky Light Hospitality斥資530萬美元，購得DLF正在新德里營建的一座酒店50%的權益，而DLF 在2012年估計，當年該酒店價值爲3,300萬美元。

Another company controlled by Mr. Vadra, Sky Light Realty, acquired a penthouse apartment -- estimated by brokers to now be worth $5 million -- in a complex DLF built in Gurgaon called the Aralias.

瓦德拉掌控的另一家公司Sky Light Realty在DLF在古爾岡興建的綜合建築羣Aralias內購買了一套頂層公寓（經紀人估計，這套公寓現在價值500萬美元）。

That same Vadra company reported in its government filings for fiscal 2009 and 2010 that it bought seven apartments in a luxury complex built by DLF for $870,000.

也正是這家公司在向政府提交的文件中披露，2009財年和2010財年，該公司以87萬美元在DLF興建的一個豪華綜合建築羣內購買了七套公寓。

They were worth close to $6 million at the time, real-estate brokers said. India Against Corruption, a grass-roots movement that has spawned an anticorruption political party called the Aam Admi Party, alleged that the transactions amounted to a ploy for DLF to give the Gandhi family property and money to curry favor. Congress party officials have repeatedly denied the allegation. Rahul Gandhi didn't respond to requests for comment, and a person in his office said he was too busy campaigning to respond.

房地產經紀人稱，這些公寓當時價值接近600萬美元。印度反腐敗組織（該組織作爲一項草根運動推動了反腐敗政黨平民黨(Aam Admi Party)的建立）稱，這些交易是DLF的一種策略，旨在用房地產和金錢來賄賂甘地家族。國大黨官員已經多次否認這些指控。拉胡爾・甘地未迴應置評要求，他辦公室的一名官員表示，拉胡爾・甘地忙於競選，無暇回覆。

DLF said Mr. Vadra's group actually paid much more than $870,000 -- it said the actual price was about $166 a square foot, which would add up to about $7 million. Today, the seven apartments are worth more than $16 million, real-estate brokers said.

DLF稱，瓦德拉的集團公司實際支付金額遠高於87萬美元――該公司稱，實際價格是每平方英尺166美元左右，總價約合700萬美元。房地產經紀人稱，如今這七套公寓的價值超過1,600萬美元。

Asked for comment, DLF cited a response it made to the anticorruption group, which said in part: 'The business relationship of DLF with Mr. Robert Vadra or his companies has been in his capacity as an individual entrepreneur, on a completely transparent and at an arm's length basis. Our business relationship has been conducted to the highest standards of ethics and transparency.'

在迴應置評要求時，DLF援引了該公司對印度反腐敗組織的回覆，其中部分內容是：“瓦德拉是作爲個人企業家帶領公司與DLF展開商業往來的，往來建立在完全透明和獨立公平的基礎之上。我們的商業往來秉持最高的道德和透明度標準。”

Mr. Vadra's land purchases in Rajasthan state -- some of which brokers say were done through the man in the black SUV -- began in 2009, at a time when Congress controlled the state's government. Both the state and India's federal governments had just begun discussing policies to promote solar energy, which requires large tracts of land for solar-panel arrays, a senior official involved in developing the Rajasthan policy said.

瓦德拉是從2009年國大黨掌控拉賈斯坦邦政府時開始在該邦置地的。經紀人稱，其中有一部分土地是通過坐在黑色SUV裏的那名男子購買的。一名參與制定拉賈斯坦邦太陽能產業政策的高級官員表示，該邦及印度聯邦政府當時都是剛開始討論促進太陽能產業發展的政策，而太陽能發電需要有大片土地來鋪設太陽能面板。

From 2009 to 2012, Mr. Vadra's companies bought about 2,000 acres in Rajasthan for about $1 million, according to a Journal review of land-office records compiled by the Kolayat land office in Rajasthan state. Much of this property was in the state's northwestern corridor, long regarded by energy experts as a good place for solar-power arrays because of its ample sunshine and relatively cheap land.

根據《華爾街日報》見到的一份由拉賈斯坦邦戈拉耶德(Kolayat)土地辦公室編制的土地辦記錄，從2009年到2012年，瓦德拉的公司斥資約100萬美元，在拉賈斯坦邦購買了2,000英畝左右的土地。其中許多土地位於拉賈斯坦邦西北走廊，由於該地區陽光充足，地價也相對便宜，因此長期以來一直被能源專家視爲鋪設太陽能面板的理想區域。

In one purchase registered in the land-office books, Mr. Vadra bought 94 acres for $70,000 in January of 2010.

土地辦公室文件中一項置地交易註冊記錄顯示，瓦德拉2010年1月以7萬美元購買了94英畝土地。

A week later, the federal government unveiled plans to offer extensive tax incentives for solar-power investment. The state followed with more incentives the next year.

一週後，聯邦政府出臺了爲太陽能行業投資提供全面稅收優惠的計劃。該邦次年又跟進出臺了更多優惠措施。

'Once our area became a solar-power center, we discovered Mr. Vadra had bought up all of our land cheaply from the farmers,' said Arjun Ram Meghwal, a member of parliament from the rival BJP.

來自反對黨人民黨的議會成員阿爾瓊・梅瓦爾(Arjun Ram Meghwal)表示：“我們這個地區一變成太陽能發電中心，我們才發現瓦德拉已經從農民手中買光了這裏土地。”

As solar firms moved in, the land's value jumped. A property sale by Mr. Vadra's Sky Light Hospitality in January 2012 included most of the 94-acre plot bought in 2010. The sale priced it at 10 times the per-acre purchase price, the Kolayat land office summary of his transactions shows.

隨着太陽能發電公司的進駐，當地土地價值出現攀升。瓦德拉麾下的Sky Light Hospitality 2012年1月份有一筆地產出售交易，其中包括他2010年購置的94英畝地塊中的大部分。戈拉耶德土地辦公室的交易概要顯示，每英畝土地售價相當於購買價格的10倍。

In all, Mr. Vadra has sold more than 700 Rajasthan acres, about a third of his holdings in the state, for $2.7 million, according to the summary. That is nearly three times his purchase price for his entire Rajasthan holding, of which his firms still own about 1,200 acres. Their value is more than $4 million, according to a local land official and local brokers.

這份概要顯示，瓦德拉總共出售了逾700英畝拉賈斯坦邦土地，相當於他所持該邦土地面積的三分之一左右，賣地所得高達270萬美元，接近他手中拉賈斯坦邦所有土地買價的三倍。瓦德拉的公司在拉賈斯坦邦仍擁有1,200英畝左右的土地，當地土地部門一名官員和經紀人稱，這些土地的價值超過400萬美元。

Land records show Mr. Vadra was represented locally by Mahesh Nagar, who has also represented the Congress party's Mr. Gandhi on at least one occasion.

土地記錄顯示，瓦德拉在當地的代理人是馬赫什・納加爾(Mahesh Nagar)，納加爾還爲國大黨的拉胡爾・甘地至少做過一次代理人。

Mr. Nagar, who is the brother of a Congress party politician, said he didn't personally know either Mr. Vadra or Mr. Gandhi. Interviewed in his office decorated with pictures of Mr. Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Mr. Nagar said he had been approached by a 'facilitator' who gave him authority letters to get lands registered for Messrs. Vadra and Gandhi.

納加爾是一名國大黨政治家的兄弟，他表示，他個人並不認識瓦德拉或拉胡爾・甘地。納加爾在他那間掛着拉胡爾・甘地、索尼婭・甘地和普里揚卡・甘地・瓦德拉畫像的辦公室裏接受採訪時表示，一名“促成此事的人”曾與他接觸，給了他代瓦德拉和拉胡爾・甘地辦理土地註冊的授