2G Scam: CBI quotes RS 200 Cr paid as bribe by Swan Telecom for granting 2G licence

To cover up Rs 200 crore "illegal" gratification made to Kalaignar TV, agreements were executed after lodging of FIR in the 2G scam and money was channelled back to its source on A Raja's resignation as Telecom Minister, the CBI has claimed.

The agency has supported this contention on the basis of the statements of an accountant of DB Realty and Director of the Cineyug Films Pvt Ltd to establish that the money travelled between December 23, 2008 and August 7, 2009 from Shahid Balwa's firm to Kalaignar TV in which DMK MP Kanimozhi has stake.

The FIR in the scam was lodged on October 21, 2009 by the CBI against unknown persons of the Department of Telecom , and agreements for transfer of funds were entered on January 27, 2010.

In its second charge sheet, the CBI has said that Swan Telecom and Dynamix Realty Promoters- Shahid Balwa and Vinod Goenka, channelled Rs 200 crore through circuitous route, to DMK family-run Kalaignar TV and when Raja resigned and was questioned by the agency, the money was channelled back to DB Realty through the same route.

CBI has quoted the statements of Satish Agarwal, accountant of DB Realty and Mohomed Morani, director of Cineyug Film Pvt Ltd , who have been named as witnesses to buttress that money was paid as bribe by Swan Telecom to get favour for the grant of 2G licence.

Agarwal told CBI that "Dynamix Realty had given unsecured loans of Rs 209 crore to (Asif Balwa's) Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt Ltd from December 23, 2008 to August 11, 2009. No agreement was executed for this purpose."

"Sum of Rs 206 crore was transferred (further) from account of Kusegaon Fruits to account of (Karim Morani's) Cineyug Films Pvt Ltd during the period from December 23, 2008 to July, 2009," he said.

Morani in his statement to the CBI confirmed of receiving this Rs 206 crore and carried the money trail forward stating, "There was no written agreements for this (received Rs 206 crore)."

"I further state that Cineyug Films extended a loan of Rs 200 crore to Kalaignar TV Pvt Ltd during the period from December 23, 2008 to August 07, 2009," Morani said in his statement.

The two witnesses revealed that no agreements were executed for these transactions between Dynamix-Kusegaon and Kusegaon-Cineyug and it was after the CBI registered the FIR in the 2G spectrum scam, on October 21, 2009, that the agreements were executed between them showing the transaction as "unsecured loan".

Kanimozhi, DMK patriarch Karunanidhi's youngest daughter, entered politics at a harrowing time for her party. In 2007, a violent rift had taken place between Karunanidhi's family and that of his grand nephews, the Marans. Dayanidhi Maran was recalled from his ministerial job in Delhi and Kanimozhi was sent to the Rajya Sabha by the DMK. Around the same time, she published a book called Karukkum Maruthaani, a collection of essays about gender issues-and clean politics.

She hasn't written much since then, apart from a book of verse published in 2009. In Parliament, she was a soft-spoken presence, asking 186 questions over four years about things as diverse as NREG wages, farm incomes and modernising the Chennai airport. Her conversations with corporate lobbyist Niira Radia don't clearly establish whether she played a significant role in getting Andimuthu Raja the telecom minister's job after 2009's election victory. An MP, who requested anonymity, says, "It was clear that they were close, but in Parliament it's common for new MPs to take guidance from party seniors."

Now, Kanimozhi has been accused by investigating agency CBI of being part of the telecom controversy at whose centre, it alleges, was Raja. Raja is already in preventive custody and the DMK is now closing ranks to defend the first member of its first family in court. But can Kani, as she's called by people familiar to her, count on the party's total support?


Kanimozhi fight within her family

"It's going to take her a long time to beat the rivalry of members within her family. And then emerge successfully in the political arena to take on rivals outside," says a politician close to the DMK in Chennai, requesting anonymity. There are deep divisions within DMK's first family. Union minister Azhagiri and deputy chief minister Stalin , step-brothers of Kanimozhi, may not be unhappy with a weakened Kani. The Maran side of the family will be positively gleeful. After all, it was Kanimozhi, backed by party veterans like Arcot Veerasamy and MRK Paneerselvam who led the anti-Maran backlash in 2007 and helped set up the TV channel Kalaignar to rival the Maran's Sun network.

Kalaignar TV, investigators say, was a conduit through which around `200 crore was passed on to the DMK by a clutch of companies led by DB Realty which received a telecom licence during Raja's time. Kanimozhi has denied the charge, saying this was an investment that the company refused to accept and returned with interest.

Kanimozhi's main cultural platform, the NGO Tamil Maiyam, which organises the popular Sangamam festival every year since 2006 during Pongal, is also being probed to see if any funds had been routed through it. Father Jegath Gaspar Raj, who founded the NGO in 2002 and roped in Kanimozhi later, says, "There was a point where I realised Maiyam couldn't remain a family-run organisation. I spoke to Kanimozhi about joining us and she was more than happy to do so."

As pressure builds up on Kanimozhi and the people and institutions that she's been associated with-Sharad Kumar, an executive and shareholder of Kalaignar TV is a co-accused-some former allies are backing off. The Chennai-based politician says, "There are so many rivals within her family that even Kalaignar TV did not play footage of Kanimozhi's campaign before these Assembly elections. When she was addressing rallies in north Chennai, no Kalaignar crew was present, and the channel repeatedly aired the campaign of actors Khushboo and Vadivelu."

Kanimozhi has vowed to fight all the charges in court, but it could be a lonely fight. Luckily, the one person who's solidly behind her is her father. But it's going to be a long grind. No wonder Fr Raj gets nostalgic about the heydays of Sangamam, "Kanimozhi was so involved that she used to have long discussions with the tailors making costumes for folk artists. Those days were good."