The Central Bureau of Investigation on Monday accused five more persons including the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister's daughter and promoter of Kalaignar TV, Ms Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, as co-conspirators in the 2G spectrum scam.
In its supplementary chargesheet filed before a Special Court on Monday, the CBI accused Ms Kanimozhi and Mr Sharad Kumar, Director and Promoter, Kalaignar TV, of receiving bribes amounting to Rs 200 crore. It has also named the former Telecom Minister, Mr A. Raja, of taking bribe.
This ‘bribe', the CBI said, was a reward for showing undue favours in allocating 2G licences to Swan Telecom.
Mr Asif Balwa and Mr Rajiv B. Agarwal, Directors of Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables and Mr Karim Morani, Director of Cineyug Media and Entertainment Pvt Ltd, are the others named by the CBI. They have been accused of paying the bribe.
However, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister's second wife Ms Dayalu Karunanidhi has not been named as an accused. The CBI said she had informed Kalaignar TV's board that due to her old age and deteriorating health, she cannot be expected to give attention to the company's affairs. Ms Dayalu also said that as she understood only Tamil, she would attend the meetings just to suffice the quorum requirement. But she has been named among the 28 new witnesses.
THE MONEY FLOW
The CBI said DB Realty and Dynamix Realty took a Rs 242-crore loan from IL&FS for realty and slum development.
The CBI said its investigation has disclosed that following the conspiracy between the accused, Dynamix Realty paid Rs 200 crore (from the Rs 242-crore loan) to Kalaignar TV between December 2008 and August 2009.
The payment was routed through Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables (a DB Group company) and Cineyug Films (DB Group later held 49 per cent equity in it).
Though the Rs 200 crore was claimed to be in the nature of loan, no valid agreement was signed among the parties and no collateral was provided to secure the amount, the CBI said.
The Special Judge, Mr O.P. Saini, said, “I am satisfied that there is enough incriminating material on record to proceed against the accused persons.”
SUMMONS TO KANIMOZHI
The court then issued summons to Ms Kanimozhi, Mr Kumar and Mr Morani for May 6. Mr Asif Balwa and Mr Agarwal, already in judicial custody, were directed to appear before the court on Wednesday.
The CBI said Kalaignar TV started refunding Rs 200 crore to Dynamix through Cineyug and Kusegaon on December 24, 2010, the day Mr Raja was interrogated by the CBI. Substantial part of the amount was refunded with interest around February 2, 2011 when Mr Raja was arrested by the CBI. The CBI also said that Kalaignar TV's balance-sheet concealed the nature of the transactions.