A Raja pleads not guilty in money-laundering case

NEW DELHI: Former Telecom Minister A Raja has pleaded not guilty in a money-laundering case in which he is accused of aiding the transfer of Rs 200 crore from a company that is alleged to have benefited from the 2G telecom scam to a TV channel linked to his DMK party.

Raja is the main accused in the 2G scam where he, then the telecom minister, and several others are accused of irregularities in the allotment of telecom spectrum in 2008, causing a huge notional revenue loss to the government.

The money-laundering case was filed separately by the Enforcement Directorate, a finance ministry wing that probes economic crimes, alleging that the promoters of Swan Telecom had circuitously transferred the money to Kalaignar TV for the favours it received during the telecom licence allocation.

During arguments over the charges and a bail application that Raja has moved at the special court set up to try cases related to the 2G scam, the former minister said he wasn't aware of any such transaction.

After it was accused of receiving scam-related funds, Kalaignar TV said that it had taken the money as a loan and paid it back. Raja, his party colleague and Rajya Sabha member K Kanimozhi, promoters of Swan Telecom and others accused in the 2G case and for money laundering have denied any wrongdoing.

On Tuesday, Kanimozhi told the court that she had no role in the operations of the TV channel at the time the alleged transaction happened, though she was a minority shareholder.

Raja, who was arrested in early 2011 in the 2G case and in jail for several months, is currently out on bail.

It was a coincidence that DMK wanted to start a TV channel and he happens to be a member of the party, Raja's counsel Manu Sharma told the court of OP Saini on Thursday. "Raja does not know about the transaction."

On Wednesday, Vijay Aggarwal, the lawyer for Swan Telecom promoter Shahid Usman Balwa, told the court that the ED was merely relying on charge sheets filed by the CBI, which had probed the scam.

The arguments over charges and bail applications of all the 10 accused in money laundering have ended.