Karuna's wife, Kani involved in proceeds of crime, says ED

Kalaignar TV (P) Limited, where bribe money of Rs 200 crore was “parked” in the 2G spectrum allocation case, was started by one of the accused Sharad Kumar at the behest of Dravida Munnetra Khazagam (DMK) chief M Karunanidhi.

Kumar, however, did not receive any remuneration for starting the channel and held 20 per cent share in the company as its promoter and director.

“In 2007, Karunanidhi, the head of the DMK party, called him (Kumar) to start a channel called KTV. On his (Karunanidhi’s) instructions, he started KTV as a channel of the DMK and for this he was not getting any specific remuneration,” Enforcement Directorate (ED) joint director Himanshu Kumar Lal deposed before a special CBI court.

Kumar along with another accused P Amirtham, son of the elder sister of DMK patriarch, used to manage day-to-day affairs of Kalaignar TV.

 He along with other accused was involved in “acquisition” of bribe money and its reverse flow which suddenly started after Raja was called by the CBI for investigation on December 25, 2010 in the case, Special CBI Judge OP Saini was told.

 “He was involved in the reverse flow of proceeds of crime from Kalaignar TV (P) Limited to Cineyug Films (P) Limited and projecting the tainted money as untainted through various documents like share subscription agreement, pledging of shares,” the ED official stated.

Amirtham, general manager, director and chief finance officer (CFO) of the channel, was instrumental in collecting money from Anjugam Films (P) Limited and other companies as well as dubious Kolkata-based “accommodation entry operators” during the reverse flow of money as Kalaignar TV (P) Limited did not have funds of its own to return it to Cineyug Films (P) Limited.

“In the cases of Kolkata based accommodation entry operators, money was borrowed at a high interest and the proceeds of crime (money) was transferred to Cineyug Films (P) Limited at lower interest rate,” Lal said.

Both the DMK chief’s wife M K Dayalu and his daughter Kanimozhi along with Raj and others were involved in parking of the bribe money at Kalaignar TV and also in the reverse flow of the money projecting the “tainted money as untainted”.

M K Dayalu, who had the largest 60 per cent share in the Kalaignar TV as one of the promoter shareholders, was aware of the decisions taken in the board meetings of the company.

“Important decisions and conversations regarding those taken in English were translated to her (Dayalu) in Tamil during the meetings as stated by Sharad Kumar and P Amirtham,” Lal stated.