Liquidation of Devas to begin soon says FM; tears into UPA for perpetrating a fraud on people

It should be Congress’ turn to answer how the Cabinet was kept in dark and how this kind of fraud was perpetrated on the people of India, Sitharaman said

A day after the Supreme Court upheld liquidation of Devas Multimedia, FM Nirmala Sithraman hit out at the former Congress-led UPA government of misusing its power to give away a rare endowment of people, the S-Band spectrum, used for national security purposes, for 2005 Antrix-Devas deal.

She said it was a fraud on the people of India and a fraud against the country by the Congress-led UPA and that a liquidation process for Devas will begin soon, with a liquidator already appointed.

"The Congress government didn't appoint any arbitrator after Devas went for international arbitration showing that it didn't have the intent to challenge the fraud," Sitharaman said.

“The master game players in this are the Congress and with this Supreme Court order, we are able to see that... The Supreme Court order shows how the UPA government indulged in wrong practices. The Antrix-Devas deal was against national security. Now it should be Congress’ turn to answer how the Cabinet was kept in dark and how this kind of fraud was perpetrated on the people of India. They have no moral right to speak about crony capitalism," the minister said.

Antrix-Devas satellite deal was signed in 2005 between Isro’s commercial arm Antrix and a Bangalore based start-up Devas Multimedia. the deal was later cancelled in 2011 by the UPA government itself citing security reasons but in between Devas went to international courts and tribunals claiming damages to the tune of $563 million. The deal was, however, closed on January 1 when the Supreme Court ordered the liquidation of the startup.

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