Raja illegally favoured Swan Telecom, says ED

Former telecom minister A Raja illegally favoured Swan Telecom Private Limited (STPL) in getting unified access licence.

He took “extra effort” to get the licences cleared for Kalaignar TV (P) Limited where bribe money of Rs 200 crore was parked through a series of transactions arising from a company owned by accused Shahid Balwa.

This was stated by Enforcement Directorate (ED) Joint Director Himanshu Kumar Lal during his deposition before a special court of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with a money laundering case of the 2G spectrum allocation case here on Wednesday.

Raja, in association with Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) chief M Karunanidhi’s wife M K Dayalu, his daughter K Kanimozhi and others, arranged the bribe money from Balwa, Vinod Goenka, Rajiv Agarwal, Asif Balwa and other accused in the case to get it parked at Kalaignar TV (P) Limited against granting “illegal favour” to STPL, he told the court of special CBI Judge O P Saini.

Explaining the money trail, Lal told the court that Dynamix Realty, a company owned and managed by Balwa and Goenka, transferred a sum of Rs 209.25 crore to Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables (P) Limited, a company of which Shahid Balwa’s brother Asif Balwa was promoter and director.

The Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables (P) Limited then transferred Rs 206.25 crore to accused Karim Morani’s Cineyug Films (P) Limited. The film production company then transferred Rs 200 crore to Kalaignar TV (P) Limited, he added.

When Raja was called by the CBI for investigation on December 25, 2010, a reverse flow of money began from Kalaignar TV (P) Limited to Dynamix Realty through Cineyug Films (P) Limited and Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables (P) Limited. Kalaignar TV (P) Limited suddenly started reverse flow of money, arranging funds from different quarters at very high interest.

“Rs 231.38 crore was transferred to Cineyug Films (P) Limited. The Cineyug transferred Rs 225.08 crore to Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables (P) Limited and the Kusegaon transferred the proceeds of crime of Rs 223.55 crore to Dynamix Realty. In reverse flow also like in the inflow of the proceeds of crime, monies were arranged at a high rate of interest and were transferred at a lower rate of interest,” Lal deposed.

All these arrangements were done to project the “tainted money as untainted,” he added.