JOIN USCBI charge sheet against Kanimozhi
In a development which could impact the political dynamics in the UPA, the CBI on Monday named K Kanimozhi, the daughter of Tamil Nadu chief minister K Karunanidhi, as a co-conspirator in the 2G spectrum allocation scam, for allegedly receiving Rs 200 crore for Kalaignar TV in which she is a 20 per cent equity-holder.
While the agency has named four others in the charge sheet, Karunanidhi’s third wife, Dayalu Ammal Karunanidhi, a 60 per cent shareholder in the same television company has not been named as an accused in the charge sheet.
Four others charge sheeted along with Kanimozhi include Kalaignar TV Managing Director Sharad Kumar, Swan Telecom promoter Shahid Usman Balwa’s cousin Asif Balwa, Rajeev Agarwal — Directors of Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt Ltd, and Karim Murani of Cineyug Films (Pvt) Ltd.
The investigations by the CBI have established that the money was pumped into the DMK family owned Kalaignar TV from the DB group companies (of Shahid Balwa and Vinod Goenka ) which allegedly acted as a front for Swan telecom, a company favoured for allocation of spectrum by former telecom minister and DMK leader A Raja.
In a detailed charge sheet, the CBI has worked out the alleged dubious transaction through a series of DB realty companies to Kalaignar TV of which Kanimozhi, a Rajya Sabha member, is a 20 per cent stakeholder and “initial director.”
The CBI said Kanimozhi had pursued with the intermediaries and DMK headquarters the matter of re-appointment of A Raja as minister in the telecom ministry in 2009 “which clearly establishes the strong association of Ms Kanimozhi Karunanidhi and accused A Raja in the official/political matters”, the charge sheet said.
Taking cognizance of the charge sheet, a special CBI court issued summons to Kanimozhi, Kumar and Morani for May 6. The Court, however, sought presence of Asif Balwa and Aggarwal (already arrested) on Tuesday. “ I am satisfied that there is enough incriminating material on record to proceed against the accused persons”, the judge remarked after reading the charge sheet.
The filing of the charge sheet against Kanimozhi may strain relations between the Congress and its ally, the DMK, which recently contested the Tamil Nadu assembly polls in alliance. The DMK has convened a meeting of its executive committee on Wednesday “to decide on its future course of action’ in view of the charge sheet against Kanimozhi.
In Chennai, the DMK’s top brass, including Kanimozhi and Deputy Chief Minister Stalin were closeted for confabulations to take stock of the situation after the charge sheet. However, Chief Minister Karunanidhi, earlier in the day, had virtually ruled out any extreme step of withdrawing support to the UPA government if his family members were to be named in the charge sheet by retorting to newspersons, “I do not know anything about the charge sheet.”
Accused say it is loan
The investigation agency said the accused have sought to explain the payment Rs 200 crore in terms of loan but there was no such agreement to that effect. The investigating agency said the day the CBI “contacted” Raja for questioning on December 24, 2010, Kalaignar TV Private Ltd “stated refunding the amount of Rs 200 crore to M/S Dynamix Realty , through Cineyug films Pvt Ltd and M/S Kusegaon Fruits & Vegetables Pvt. Ltd”.
All these companies are sister companies of DB Realty.
Interestingly, CBI has found that a substantial part of Rs 200 crore was “refunded” by Kalaingnar TV “just before and after February 2, 2011 when accused A Raja was arrested by CBI in this case”. The agency has given the date-wise details of the refund.
Dwelling on the role of Karunanidhi’s wife, Dayalu, the chargesheet says as per the Kalaingnar TV company’s Board meeting on July 27, 2007, Dayalu informed that in view of her old age and deteriorating health, she can not be expected to give any attention to company’s affairs and attend meeting only to suffice legal requirement.
The Board meeting also noted that Dayalu Karunanidhi “can understand only Tamil and can not read , write, speak or even understand any other language”, CBI said.
Interestingly, Dayalu karunanidhi, the step-mother of Kanimozhi, is cited as a witness in the case.