Pawar denies Radia charges on links with DB Realty

The Minister was reacting to media reports quoting corporate lobbyist Nira Radia as telling the CBI that Pawar may be controlling DB Realty and may have pursued the issue of spectrum and licence for Swan Telecom with former telecom minister A Raja.

Her statement was part of the CBI charge sheet though she herself made it clear that it was the perception in Mumbai that she was talking about and that she had no documentary proof to back it.

Pawar said, “This is absolutely a lie and foolish statement. Her (Radia) claim is absolutely irresponsible and a total lie and one should not give too much importance to her statement.

“I have no financial interest in this company. DB Realty and that telecom company I have no relations at all. I have no financial, not one ‘naya paisa’ interest in that company,” the minister said.

He said he knew DB Realty’s Vinod Goenka’s father K M Goenka from the past 35 years and he had set up a milk processing unit in Baramati about 20 years back. “We, all farmers, are helping him in getting good quality milk. We have a relationship. There are no two opinions about that but we have no involvement or association with the telecom company,” he said.

Pointing out that Radia had herself stated that she had no proof to back the charge, Pawar said he had not talked with the corporate lobbyist or anyone else with regard to grant of licence for spectrum use.

Swan Telecom is one of the companies that allegedly benefited from 2G allocation scam. It was part of Mumbai-based DB Realty, which has since then become Etisalat DB Realty.
Radia has also told the CBI that her company had given 10 per cent sweat equity to former TRAI chairman Pradeep Baijal.

Vaishnavi Corporate Communications Pvt Ltd headed by Radia on Thursday issued a statement on reports relating to her testimony to CBI.

“Corporates with vested interest are circulating statements related to an ongoing trial, unverified transcripts, white papers, and other documents with questionable authenticity.
“The whole exercise quite clearly is to divert attention from real issues. For the record, it is stated that right context of the conversation can be established only when the statement is looked at in totality,” the release said.

However, the Congress tried to steer clear of the issue saying that the Union minister has himself made an “elaborate” clarification.

“Since the person concerned has given an elaborate reaction in the matter, it would not be proper for anyone to say anything.... It is not necessary to say anything,” party spokesman Manish Tewari told reporters.