2G case: India's biggest scam, also one of biggest confusions
The CAG, CBI and telecom minister have varying estimates of how much the scam cost the state exchequer.
By Shantanu N Sharma, ET Bureau |
It was billed as India’s biggest scam. But it’s also one of India’s biggest confusions. ET on Sunday gives a ready reckoner on the big numbers still being bandied about.
How big was the scam?
That depends on who you ask. The CAG, CBI and telecom minister have varying estimates of how much the scam cost the state exchequer.
Rs 1,76,645 crore: CAG
Rs 30,984 crore: CBI
0: Telecom Ministry
What was the quantum of bribes paid?
Investigating agencies say that about Rs 3,000 crore of bribe money changed hands. But what has been spotted so far is the Rs 209-crore ‘loan’ from DB Realty ( Swan Telecom’s sister concern) to Kalaignar TV. The money was subsequently returned with interest but the Enforcement Directorate, which is investigating the case, termed it as a bribe. The ED also confiscated properties worth an equivalent amount from the bribe giver.
Attached Properties of DB Realty and Associates
Bank accounts
Raigad, Pune
Commercial space at Goregaon, Mumbai
Flats in Bandra, Goregaon in Mumbai
What happens to big bribes?
Investigators believe bribe money eventually lands in tax havens like the Cayman Islands through shell companies floated in Dubai, Singapore and Mauritius. For example, CBI and ED sleuths have been investigating whether A Raja used bank accounts under his wife’s name in Mauritius and Seychelles to route kickbacks. As the CBI director, AP Singh, put it recently, 53% of countries dubbed ‘least corrupt’ by Transparency International are actually offshore tax havens where most of the corrupt money heads to. Recovering the money is a long, painful process.
“For investigators, each layer has to be peeled by sending an LR [Letter of Request] through judicial channels”
How big was the scam?
That depends on who you ask. The CAG, CBI and telecom minister have varying estimates of how much the scam cost the state exchequer.
Rs 1,76,645 crore: CAG
Rs 30,984 crore: CBI
0: Telecom Ministry
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What was the quantum of bribes paid?
Investigating agencies say that about Rs 3,000 crore of bribe money changed hands. But what has been spotted so far is the Rs 209-crore ‘loan’ from DB Realty ( Swan Telecom’s sister concern) to Kalaignar TV. The money was subsequently returned with interest but the Enforcement Directorate, which is investigating the case, termed it as a bribe. The ED also confiscated properties worth an equivalent amount from the bribe giver.
Attached Properties of DB Realty and Associates
Bank accounts
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Land in Vasant Vihar (Delhi), Raigad, Pune
Commercial space at Goregaon, Mumbai
Flats in Bandra, Goregaon in Mumbai
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What happens to big bribes?
Investigators believe bribe money eventually lands in tax havens like the Cayman Islands through shell companies floated in Dubai, Singapore and Mauritius. For example, CBI and ED sleuths have been investigating whether A Raja used bank accounts under his wife’s name in Mauritius and Seychelles to route kickbacks. As the CBI director, AP Singh, put it recently, 53% of countries dubbed ‘least corrupt’ by Transparency International are actually offshore tax havens where most of the corrupt money heads to. Recovering the money is a long, painful process.
“For investigators, each layer has to be peeled by sending an LR [Letter of Request] through judicial channels”
— CBI director, at an Interpol seminar
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