CBI finds leads to kickbacks from a 2G beneficiary

NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation has said that it has found crucial leads to bribes paid by a telecom company from the south, one of the beneficiaries of the 2G spectrum allotment.

CBI, which is among the investigative agencies probing the 2G scam under the direct gaze of the Supreme Court, has been working overtime to establish if bribes were paid for allotment of telecom licences. Former telecom minister A Raja and telecom companies allotted licenses in his tenure have denied any wrongdoing.


CBI in its status report is said to have mentioned the flow of funds from DB Realty, owned by Shahid Usman Balwa, to Kalaignar TV, a channel majority-owned by family members of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi.


CBI which has been scanning financial dealings of the telecom firm which has its headquarters in the south got vital leads on what its sources claim is flow of money from this firm to Raja.


Swan, the telecom arm of DB Realty was among the companies which had benefited from Raja's largesse. Soon after getting the 2G licence, Swan sold 45% of its stake to a UAE-based firm, Etisalat for Rs 4,500 crore. Shahid Balwa, the co-promoter of DB Realty, was arrested by CBI on February 8 from his Bandra residence in Mumbai and brought to the Capital next day. The investigative agency has confronted the DB Realty promoter with Raja to ferret out details of the alleged quid-pro-quo between the two sides.


Balwa has come under the lens of the investigative agencies, including CBI, for his proximity to Raja, and DMK top brass. They have zeroed in on a transaction in which over Rs 200 crore was transferred from the Mumbai-based DB group to Kalaignar TV.


The transaction, in which Rs 214 crore was routed in fiscal 2009-10 from a subsidiary of DB Realty to Kalaignar TV through two other companies, entailed an entity, christened Cineyug, picking over 30% stake in the TV channel. The deal, however, fell through because of valuation differences and the money had since been repaid.


Having received the apex court's nod to bring the beneficiaries of the scan under its investigative ambit, CBI has now decided to widen the net of its probe to include all the 122 2G licenses that were issued by Raja in 2008.