2G scam: Pawar may be controlling DB Realty, says Radia

NEW DELHI: Corporate lobbyist Niira Radia has told the CBI that Union agriculture ministerSharad Pawar may be controlling the controversialDB Realty and may have pursued the issue of spectrum and licence for Swan Telecom with former telecom minister A Raja. 

In a statement to CBI, which has been filed as part of the chargesheet in the 2G scam, Radia says on being asked by a journalist how she knew about Pawar lobbying with Raja to get approvals for Swan, "That as per the general perception inMumbai as well as outside DB Realties (sic) directly or indirectly (is) controlled by Sharad Pawar and his family members." 

Radia added that she had no "documentary proof or some other evidence" to back up her allegation. She, however, said Shahid Balwa and Vinod Goenka "are key persons in DB Realty", and "in that background, I had quoted the name of Sharad Pawar who might have pursued the matter with Raja, then telecom minister, for showing (favour) to Swan as well as to Anil Ambani Reliance Communications in issuing of UAS (unified access service) licence and dual technology". 

Pawar has in the past denied having anything to do with the DB Realty group although Goenka has said that he has family links with the Maratha leader. Goenka`s Dynamix group has a large presence in Baramati, Pawar`s constituency. 

Radia gave four separate statements to CBI, most of them dealing with the several phone conversations she had with various people including Ratan Tata, A Raja, Raja`s personal secretary R K Chandolia, several journalists and senior executives from various corporate houses. The conversations and her explanations before the investigation agency illustrates her proximity to Raja, Chandolia and many others. 

The lobbyist also told CBI that former IAS officers Pradeep Baijal and C M Vasudev were given "sweat equity" of 10% each in her consulting firm. Baijal was TRAI chairman until March 2006, while Vasudev held several crucial posts in the finance ministry. 

During her questioning, CBI confronted the lobbyist with phone conversations from her various numbers that were recorded by the Income Tax department. Radia responded to each of them and her statement was recorded under Section 161 of CrPC before the CBI. Unlike a statement recorded before a magistrate, statements recorded under Section 161 can be changed in court. 

The statements recorded by CBI additional SP Vivek Priyadarshi have Radia accusing Dayanidhi Maran, former telecom minister, of being against the Tata Group. "I would like to state thatDayanidhi Maran created a lot of problems for Tata group," Radia said, explaining the circumstances in which she was roped in by the Tata group for PR work. 

As opposed to Swan Telecom, which was "an applicant not even eligible for getting a UAS licence, in view of the cross holding clause", it was Tata Teleservices that "deserved the spectrum before any other company," her statement said. 

Appearing before Parliament`s Public Accounts Committee, Ratan Tata, chairman of the Tata group, had also spoken of his group`s lack of chemistry with Maran who preceded Raja. 

Raja`s attempts to bring Kalaignar TV on the Tata Sky platform and their pending application withTata Communications in this regard also figures in Radia`s statement to CBI. Raja asked her to "put my efforts for getting the applications expedited with Tata Sky and Tata Communications". However, paucity of space ensured Kalaignar never made it to Tata Sky, she said. Raja`s additional PS A Achary, while deposing before a magistrate, corroborated this, saying that M Karunanidhi`s daughter Kanimozhi, the key mover behind the channel, was in regular touch with Raja to place Kalaignar TV on Tata Sky. 

Radia also revealed how she dealt with a recommendation by Chandolia to place two employees abroad. While one was working with TCS, Chandolia wanted the other to be taken into TCS and placed in the west. 

Radia told her investigators that she was a consultant to Unitech, besides working for Tatas. The payment of around Rs 1,700 crore from Tata Realty to Unitech was for a land deal in Gurgaon and not linked to telecom, she said.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/2G-scam-Pawar-may-be-controlling-DB-Realty-says-Radia/articleshow/7977037.cms

2G scam: DMK remains silent over Raja's arrest

The DMK has gone into silent mode. The arrest of disgraced telecom minister A. Raja has been a bitter pill for the party to swallow. That it comes barely a day after DMK patriarch M. Karunanidhi's return from the Capital, ensuring the alliance with the Congress, has surprised the party rank and file. A gloom has descended on the DMK. None from the party has reacted to the development.

Even Karunanidhi, who had been parotting that action would be taken against Raja if he was found guilty, has chosen to maintain a studied silence.

Though some senior DMK leaders maintain that it is better to face the music now rather during the polls in May, the party had hoped that the arrest would be postponed till the election was over.

What worries the DMK most is how to face the opposition onslaught during the poll campaign, in which the 2G spectrum scam would be a main plank.

The arrest has provided fresh ammunition to the opposition, and especially to AIADMK czarina Jayalalithaa. In private, party functionaries confide that the taint of corruption would certainly affect the party's prospects.

Karunanidhi's visit to the Capital was reportedly to persuade the Congress high command to delay the action against Raja.

But, his hopes were dashed as sources said home minister P. Chidambaram had briefed him about the impending arrest at Tamil Nadu Bhavan on Monday night.

What's more, while his photoop with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was widely publicised, the one with Congress president Sonia Gandhi was conspicuously not. The octogenarian was kept waiting for more than six hours for an audience with Sonia.

The DMK chief and Congress troubleshooters discussed the legal and political fallout of Raja's arrest on the upcoming polls.

Both Congress and DMK leaders maintained that the arrest would not impact their proposed electoral tie-up.

AICC general secretary Janardan Dwivedi said the development would not have any bearing on the relations between the Congress and the DMK.

"It is absolutely no reflection on the alliance. It is continuation of a legal process," AICC spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said, adding that no one should mix up legal process and politics.

Already the spectrum scam has created fissures within Karunanidhi's family as everyone is against his daughter, Kanimozhi's, faction. But for her father, she has no one to bank on. Jayalalithaa could not have hoped for much more to take on the DMK as well as the Congress.

Her gameplan is to reinforce the notion that the DMK is corrupt to the core and with the Karunanidhi family holding sway over the party, it serves to build up public opinion. After all, the first time Karunanidhi was dismissed from power was on corruption charges. The patriarch appears rattled by this and also by her charisma to pull huge crowds. If anything, his recent utterances point to his apprehensions of losing power - so much so that he had asked his partymen to remain united or face being thrown out of power.

Source:-http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/128516/top-stories/2g-scam-dmk-remains-silent-over-arrest-of-raja.html