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New Delhi: Kanimozhi
was "definitely close" to former communications minister A. Raja,
the CBI Saturday told the special court which reserved for a week
its decision on the bail plea of the DMK MP, named a
co-conspirator in the 2G spectrum allocation case.
Initiating the arguments, special public prosecutor U.U. Lalit
said: "Sharad Kumar (managing director of Kalaignar TV) and
Kanimozhi hold 20 percent shares separately in Kalaignar TV. Other
60 percent is held by Dayalu Ammal, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.
Karunanidhi's wife. It is impossible to believe that Sharad is the
operating mind behind Kalaignar TV, when Kanimozhi and Ammal,
belonging to the same family, hold 80 percent of the total shares
in the channel."
"Kanimozhi was not made the director of Kalaignar TV because she
did not get a clearance from the ministry of home affairs as a
Member of Parliament. But, she was an active brain behind all the
channel operations, including the money transfers in the
allocation of 2G spectrum," Lalit contended.
"Raja was definitely close to Kanimozhi, and not Sharad Kumar,
because of which the money flowed into Kalaignar TV," the
prosecutor argued as the case was being heard by special judge O.P.
Saini.
Meanwhile, the court also reserved its order on the bail plea of
Sharad Kumar till May 14. Both Kanimozhi and Kumar will have to
mark their attendance at the court till the next hearing.
Accusing Sharad Kumar of being involved in the money transfers,
the CBI prosecutor added: "Each and every document including the
cheques, affidavit, and contract were signed by Sharad Kumar. He
attended all the board meetings and had the power to take
decisions. In such a case, there is no doubt that Sharad and
Kanimozhi were involved in the entire transaction."
Senior lawyer Ram Jethmalani, arguing for Kanimozhi, had Friday
denied Kanimozhi's association with Raja, who is in jail for his
alleged role in the case.
"Even if we assume that Raja got transferred the Rs.200 crore
bribe money from Dynamix Group to Kalaignar TV, no guilt is proved
against me as I did not sign any document on behalf of the
recipient TV channel," Jethmalani argued for Kanimozhi.
The case involves award of telecom spectrum to private players,
which the investigative agency says was done in a fraudulent
manner, causing losses worth billions of rupees to the exchequer.
The case took a serious turn after Raja, a leader of the DMK,
resigned Nov 14 as communications minister. This was after the
official auditor held that his policy on spectrum allocation had
led to a loss of several billion rupees to the exchequer.
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