tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-156595628547487422024-03-14T04:47:26.131-07:00J GopikrishnanJ Gopikrishnanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13957669130831957764noreply@blogger.comBlogger45125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15659562854748742.post-45107569580094258542017-05-02T00:16:00.000-07:002017-05-02T00:16:46.653-07:00Aircel-Maxis Scam : All knew, Chidambaram didn’t<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 12pt;">All knew, Chidambaram didn’t</span></b><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 10pt;">J Gopikrishnan / Pioneer - OpED/ Feb 27, 2017<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Former
Finance Minister P Chidambaram was economical with the truth when he told the
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that he was not aware that Malaysian
company Maxis’ investment in Aircel was above Rs 600 crore, when he approved
the Foreign Investment Promotion Board’s (FIPB) recommendation on March 7,
2006. Chidambaram stated to this to the CBI when he was questioned on December
6, 2014. Certain senior Finance Ministry officials made similar statements to
the probe agency.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">This writer recently paid a visit to the Parliament library to
check newspaper archives in a bid to understand what had been reported in the
media during those days about Maxis’ takeover of Aircel. Every major newspaper
in India had, on December 31, 2005, reported in a big way that Maxis was going
to invest one billion dollars in Aircel. Some newspapers reported the exact
value at $I.08 billion in headlines; some even converted the value in rupees
(those days, a dollar was equivalent to Rs 45), saying that the foreign
investment was Rs 4,700 crore. Business dailies splashed it on the front page
and other newspapers reported prominently in their business section. They
appeared on the same day after Maxis and Aircel conducted a joint Press
conference in Mumbai on December 30, 2005, about the billion-dollar acquisition
plan.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 7.5pt; outline: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">The photo montage of the main newspapers reports on December 31,
2005 is placed along with this article. Apart from Indian and Malaysian
newspapers, international newspapers such as the Financial Times and the Wall
Street Journal reported this deal in detail. An Internet search shows that
television channels too widely reported the deal.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 7.5pt; outline: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">In January and February 2006 too, most newspapers were reporting
regularly on the acquisition details and on the file movements at the FIPB.
What was the basic illegality in the Aircel-Maxis scam? Those days, the FIPB
could approve foreign investments up to Rs 600 crore. As per Rule (Finance
Ministry Order dated February 18, 2003), the Finance Minister had to send the
proposals above Rs 600 crore to the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs
(CCEA). Then Finance Minister was the Chairman of CCEA too. The subsequent
Maxis investment of Rs 675 crore in Maran family-run Sun TV group details had
been sent by Chidambaram to the CCEA.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 7.5pt; outline: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Why did Chidambaram did not send the proposal of Maxis’ investment
in Aircel to the CCEA? Those days, Saudi Telecom had more than 25 per cent
shares in Maxis. Saudi Telecom also has major shareholding in Pakistan Tele
Communication Limited (PTCL) and our security agencies would have definitely
objected Maxis’ entry in India, if the file reached the CCEA.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Newspapers had reported that Maxis was going to invest Rs 4,700
crore on December 31, 2005. But Maxis, in its application to the FIPB on January
25, 2006, stated only $800 million (Rs 3,600 crore) of investment in Aircel.
Now, the Comptroller and Auditor-General’s P&T Audit wing found that
the actual money which had come to India was Rs 4,769 crore from Maxis. Where
did the balance of Rs 1,200 crore disappear?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 7.5pt; outline: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">What is the CBI doing with these open-and-shut findings? The CBI
was trying limit the case to former Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran, based on
a doubtful complaint by Aircel promoter C Sivasankaran, who alleged that Maran
arm-twisted him into selling Aircel to Maxis. The December 31, 2005, news
reports in the media exposes that both Sivasankaran and the Maxis owners
conducted Press conferences in Mumbai to announce the billion-dollar
acquisition deal. This shows that everyone in the Finance and the Telecom
Ministries was aware of the deal’s amount. The question then is: Why had the
CBI believed in Sivasankaran’s theory of arm-twisting in April 2011. The
Congress was enjoying the diminishing profile of alliance partner DMK, when A
Raja and Kanimozhi were allegedly involved in the 2G scam.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 7.5pt; outline: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">But the Aircel-Maxis scam took a different turn, when BJP leader
Subramanian Swamy, in April 2012, came out with money trail of Rs 26 lakh to
companies linked to Chidambaram’s son Karti, and blatant FIPB violations. Apart
from the violation of not sending the file to CCEA, Maxis also lied to the
Indian authorities. Those days, a maximum of 74 per cent was the limit of
foreign investment in telecom companies. But after the illegal FIPB clearance,
Maxis declared to the Malaysian Stock Exchange that it had acquired 99.3 per
cent shares in Aircel by striking an alliance with a Chennai-based hospital
group of companies. This shows that Sivasankaran was perhaps illegally
offloading his entire shares to Maxis. It’s astonishing that the country’s
premier probe agency believed his story of arm-twisting.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Another big fraud was the stark variation in the valuation of
shares. 74 per cent of Aircel was valued at around Rs 3,600 crore and the rest
26 per cent was valued at a pittance of around Rs 30 crore! The CAG’s finding
in 2015 of the actual money flow of Maxis of Rs 4,769 crore shows that around
Rs 1,200 crore came to India was nothing but black money or kickbacks as part
of the deal.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"> In a nutshell, all, including Chidambaram, Maran,
Sivasankaran and Maxis owner T Ananda Krishnan, were allegedly part and parcel
of a dubious deal to mislead Government of India, violating provisions of the
Prevention of Corruption Act and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 7.5pt; outline: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">After Chidambaram and son Karti’s names cropped up, the CBI went
into silent mode, leading to Maran’s discharge from ‘arm-twisting’ charges, by
the 2G court. While declaring Chidambaram’s ‘illegalities’ in the deal in the
chargesheet in August 2014, the CBI never provided proof to the court.
The joint raid of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Income Tax
department unearthed two-lakh-dollar money flow from Maxis’ three subsidiary
companies to Karti’s company, Chess Management Services Private Limited. The
raid also exposed 21 secret foreign bank accounts of Karti Chidambaram and
companies linked to him, and their huge assets, hotels, vineyards and farm
houses in 14 countries. The question is: What has prevented our agencies to act
on these stunning details of black money allegedly stashed by Chidambaram’s
family? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 7.5pt; outline: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">The Central Bureau of Investigation is now acting as a mute
spectator in Subramanian Swamy’s case in the Supreme Court. The apex court’s
main question to Swamy is: Was Chidambaram aware that the deal was above secret
600 crore when he illegally approved it in March 2006? Newspaper reports
detailed it on December 31, 2005, and subsequent reports in January and
February 2006 wrote of it. The entire world was aware of this billion-dollar
deal. It cannot be believed that Chidambaram was unaware of of the fact that
the amount exceeded the limit for approval at his end. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<em style="outline: none;"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; padding: 0in;">(The writer is Special Correspondent, The Pioneer)</span></em><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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J Gopikrishnanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13957669130831957764noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15659562854748742.post-40834932684266642622017-05-02T00:10:00.000-07:002017-05-02T00:10:16.696-07:00Aircel- Maxis Scam - CBI - Caged parrot refuses to speak<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Caged parrot refuses to speak</span></b><span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style", serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">The
Aircel-Maxis scam was the invention of the Central Bureau of Investigation in
mid-April 2011, when the 2G scam case against former Minister for
Telecommunications A Raja was rocking the country. Certain media houses began
flashing the name of former Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran, who also fell
into the CBI’s net. Details of complaints filed by Aircel founder C
Sivasankaran, who accused Maran for “arm-twisting” him to sell his company to
Malaysian conglomerate Maxis Group, also came in. Those days, on a daily basis,
the Supreme Court’s 2G Bench was hearing the case, and the Congress-led UPA
Government was at the receiving end.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">On
July 7, 2011, CBI counsel KK Venugopal declared in the apex court that the
agency found “there was an element of coercion” from Maran’s side in the
selling of Aircel to Maxis. And, Maran was forced to give his resignation from
the Union Cabinet. In September 2011, the CBI filed a detailed FIR in the 2G
court. The DMK was then in the dock.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">But
the tables turned against the Congress in the Aircel-Maxis scam, when in April
26, 2012, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy exposed the role of Finance Minister P
Chidambaram, and Rs 26 lakh money trails to his son Karti’s companies. The
Aircel-Maxis scam started from the dubious FIPB (Foreign Investment Promotion
Board) approvals granted by Chidambaram in early 2006.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">The
revelations sent the CBI’s case against Maran into a deep freezer. At one
point, CBI officers even wrote, “No case”, against Maran. The CBI officers’
opinion was overruled by Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi in mid-2014. After
this, the CBI filed a chargesheet against Maran and his brother heading the
family firm, Sun TV Group, and Maxis owners in August 2014.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">During
this period, a curious deal happened. The Maran family sold its Spice Jet
airlines to its earlier owner Ajay Singh. This deal was in violation of the
Securities and Exchange Board of India guidelines, as there were no open
offers. The dispute has reached the Delhi High Court. In the chargesheet
against Maran, the CBI detailed the violations of Chidambaram in granting the
FIPB approval to Maxis. The CBI declared it would soon file a supplementary
chargesheet. It interrogated Chidambaram in December 2014. The main
illegalities in the FIPB approval in Aircel-Maxis scam are:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">1.
Those days, the FIPB had the power to approve Rs 600 crore worth foreign
investment. Above this limit, the proposal filed had to go to the Cabinet
Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) for approval. Maxis, in its application to
the FIPB, said its investment was $800 million (Rs 3,600 crore).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Chidambaram
cleared the FIPB approval and did not send the proposal to the CCEA. This was
perhaps the lone case not sent to CCEA by Chidambaram in his career as Finance
Minister. He sent the Rs 675-crore FIPB-cleared file of Maxis Group’s
investment in Maran family’s Sun TV Group to the CCEA in January 2007.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">2.
Maxis, in its application to the FIPB said it was acquiring 73.99 per cent
shares of Aircel. Those days, the maximum foreign investment permitted in
telecom sector was 74 per cent. But Maxis declared to the Malaysian Stock
Exchange that it had acquired 99.93 per cent in Aircel. So, Maxis was actually
cheating the Indian Government.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">3.
The 74 per cent of the Aircel shares were taken over for Rs 3,600 crore. Shockingly,
the rest 26 per cent was sold at just Rs 28 crore!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">4.
Now, the Comptroller and Auditor-General found that, though illegal FIPB
approval was for Rs 3,600 crore, but the actual money flow from Malaysia was
more than Rs 4,900 crore! Where has this extra Rs 1,300 crore gone?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">But,
after declaring Chidambaram’s illegalities in the chargesheet against the Maran
brothers in August 2014, nothing happened from the CBI side, and the agency
never came back to the 2G court, leading to the Maran brothers’ discharge from
the case this February. The Maran brothers were always contradicting the
curious arm-twisting theory of the CBI, citing Chidambaram’s FIPB approval.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">The
2G court judge OP Saini’s very lengthy discharge order relies on the CBI’s lack
of evidences on the arm-twisting theory targeting the Marans. It’s another
question as to why the judge went for the framing of charges procedure,
although the CBI had not provided the promised evidence against Chidambaram. He
should have asked the CBI to clarify this matter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">The
CBI’s silence in alerting the judge about this aspect is also intriguing. There
is another question: Why did the judge speed up the discharge order, when,
based on advocate Prashant Bhushan’s petition, the Supreme Court had begun
acting against the Maxis owners, when they were in the process of selling
Aircel to Reliance Communications and spectrum-sharing arrangements with
Airtel?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">The
CBI is the villain in these developments. All the corrupt forces in the country
muzzled have CBI. Ashok Tiwari, then Joint Director of the CBI, who summoned
Chidambaram in December 2014, was unceremoniously removed from the agency. CBI
Director Anil Sinha prevented him from questioning Chidambaram, leaving the
interrogation to junior officers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Within
days, Tiwari was shunted out to the redundant ‘Rajiv Gandhi assassination
conspiracy’ case studying division; subsequently he was thrown out from the CBI
and despatched to his parent cadre. Now, Tiwari is the Managing Director of
Himachal Pradesh Road Transport Corporation. Enforcement Directorate’s (ED)
Investigating Officer Rajeshwar Singh too was shunted out from the organisation
for probing money trails to Karti Chidambaram’s firms. The Ministry of Finance
even misled the court, that the probe in the Aircel-Maxis case was over and
that there wasn’t any need of the services of Rajeshwar Singh, in July 2014!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">After
Swamy’s petition, the Supreme Court intervened to post him permanently in the
ED. After raids, the ED found two lakh dollar money trails from three Maxis
Group companies to Karti’s company, Chess Management Services Pvt Ltd. Karti
has not yet appeared before the ED, even after he was issued three summon
notices. Why was he not arrested for repeatedly evading summons? .<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Now,
the Supreme Court has asked petitioner Swamy to provide certain documents. What
the court wants to know is, whether Chidambaram was aware that Rs 600 crore was
the FIPB’s limit. The Ministry of Finance’s order dated February 18, 2003,
clearly stated Rs 600 crore was the limit and that Minister had to sent the
FIPB files above this limit to the CCEA.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">With
such evidence, why is the CBI not acting on the sham FIPB approval in the
Aircel-Maxis scam. Why is it waiting for the court’s direction, which is
sitting on Swamy’s petition since May 2012.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">(The writer is Special Correspondent, The
Pioneer) </span></i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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J Gopikrishnanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13957669130831957764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15659562854748742.post-31151490918100170322016-03-08T07:24:00.000-08:002016-03-08T07:24:51.253-08:00Aircel - Maxis scam : ED - IT raids dig up empire of PC's son in 14 countries <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; text-transform: uppercase;">RAIDS DIG UP EMPIRE OF PC’S SON<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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J Gopikrishnan / New Delhi / Feb 29, 2016</div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram’s son Karti has built a huge
empire for himself in different parts of the world by making investment in real
estates and engaging in other business activities in London, Dubai, South
Africa, Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, British Virgin
Island, France, USA, Switzerland, Greece and Spain. This came to light from the
documents recovered during the recent joint raids of the Enforcement
Directorate and Investigation Wing of Income Tax in the Aircel-Maxis scam.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 7.9pt; outline: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The investigation team got the details of Karti’s wealth following
raids on his company, Advantage Strategic Consulting, which is involved in the
Aircel-Maxis deal for financial transactions with telecom beneficiaries. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 7.9pt; outline: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Most of the transaction and purchases of properties and
acquisition by Karti was executed through Advantage’s Singapore-based
subsidiary Advantage Strategic Consulting Singapore Pte Ltd. According to the
investigators, the ED and I-T (Investigation Wing) are expected to contact their
international counterparts to get more details from the 14 countries as per the
United Nation’s Convention on prevention of money laundering.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 7.9pt; outline: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The 2G Court had already issued Letter Rogatory to Singapore for
getting transaction details of the Karti-controlled company in Singapore.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 7.9pt; outline: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The probe details coming out of the recent raids expose massive
wealth acquired by Karti during 2006 to 2014 when his father was Finance
Minister and Home Minister at the Centre. Karti’s Singapore firm acquired 88
acres in September 2011 at Surridge Farm in Somerset in the UK for one million
Pounds. The deal comprises four land titles, which were seized by joint probe
team of ED and I-T. Karti’s company in Singapore also has investments in
Artevea Digital Limited in Cambridge and has transactions with another
London-based company Oppenheimer Investments (UK) Limited.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 7.9pt; outline: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">According to the details unearthed by investigators, Karti’s
Singapore-based firm had acquired majority shares of a big resort in Sri Lanka,
known as Lanka Fortune Residencies. This company owns the prestigious resorts
‘The Waterfront’, ‘Weligama Bay Resort’ and Emerald Bay Hotel. During the raid,
the tax sleuths unearthed the acquisition agreement papers between Karti’s
Singapore company and share holders of the Sri Lankan firm. Document of money
trail of investments made in a Sri Lanka with a Lanka-based financial firm,
Union Development & Investment Company Private Limited, were also seized in
the December raids.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 7.9pt; outline: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The probe details how Karti’s Singapore firm routed money via
Dubai to acquire three farms and vineyards in South Africa, identified as Rowey
Farm in Grabouw, Cape Orchards and Vineyards Private Limited, and Zandvliet
Enterprises, a wine and stud farm in Ashton. The Karti-controlled Singapore
firm also had money transactions with Nicholls Steyn and Associates in South
Africa.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 7.9pt; outline: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The Dubai-based Desert Dunes Properties Ltd has also investment in
Karti’s Singapore-based company Advantage. The sleuths have unearthed a money
trail of 1.7 million Singapore Dollars between these firms. Another Dubai-based
company, Pearl Dubai FX LLC, also had financial transaction with the Advantage.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 7.9pt; outline: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The Advantage’s Singapore subsidiary had entered into joint
ventures with the Philippines-based companies to obtain a franchise team of International
Premier Tennis League (Asia). The Philippine firms, which were engaged in joint
ventures with the Karti-controlled company, are SM Arena Complex Corporation,
Sports Entertainment Events Management Inc and two persons from Philippines -
Juna Kevin and Haresh C Hiranand. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 7.9pt; outline: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The Advantage had also had financial transactions with another
real estate company in Singapore known as Real Beyond Pte Ltd having three
subsidiaries in Malaysia. The investigation has unearthed that these
transactions led to 16 land purchases in Thailand.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 7.9pt; outline: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The Advantage’s Singapore unit has set up a firm in British Virgin
Island (BVI), namely Somerset Surridge Ltd. The Advantage also invested 400,000
Singapore dollars in another BVI firm known as Full Innovations Ltd. It also has
financial dealing with Geben Trading Limited in BVI and offices in Switzerland.
This firm’s major transactions were through the famous Swiss Bank, namely UBS.
The investigators got proofs of transactions in Dollars and Euro. The Advantage
also has transaction of five million Singapore dollars with another firm in
Singapore, namely Unison Global Investment Ltd.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 7.9pt; outline: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The Karti-controlled company in Singapore has also entered into
joint ventures with Gravitas Investments, Match Point International Tennis
Events to buy a franchise Tennis team called ‘Manila Mavericks’.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 7.9pt; outline: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The investigators unearthed that this deal was worth of 12 million
US dollars and the money was paid in 10 installments. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 7.9pt; outline: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The Advantage had also acquired a residential flat in Malaysia
worth 1.9 million Malaysian Ringgits from a firm called Peninsular Smart. The
probe team also found that the Advantage holds franchisees of Café’ Coffee Day
in some areas of Malaysia. The investigators have found several transactions to
Karti’s Singapore firm with Malaysian companies. Malaysia is the head quarters
of telecom giant Maxis which acquired Aircel in 2006. The raids have seized
some payment details amounting to more than Rs.30 crore in foreign
currencies. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 7.9pt; outline: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The Advantage in Singapore also opened a subsidiary firm in
Barcelona in Spain known as Advantage Estrategia Esportiva SLU in August 2012.
This is a sports academy having four acres with seven tennis courts.
Karti-linked Singapore firm has also one million US dollar investments in a
company in France known as Pampelonn Organisation. The Advantage also has
transactions with a Greek firm known as Pisani John Sakellarios in
Athens. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 7.9pt; outline: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Karti’s Singapore company has also transferred 50,000 dollars to a
Bank of America account in the name of “Chennai Reserve - Business Advantage
Checking” and the beneficiary of this transaction was one company called
Kitchen Inc, a Delaware Corporation company in New York engaged in issuance of
Convertible Promissory Notes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 7.9pt; outline: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The Chennai-based Advantage also has transactions with Aircel
Televenutres, DCB Client, Diageo Scotland Limited, Katra Group, Sri Lanka
Export Development Board, Unifi Wealth Management Ltd, VST Tillers Tractors,
Carlton Trading Company, Claris Life Sciences’, ITC Centre, Best Land Realty
Limited, Essar Steel Limited, Gokul Builders and Estates, S Kumar, INX Media,
Reflections, Thiagarajar Mills Private Limited, Sak Soft, EL Forge
Limited. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 7.9pt; outline: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">All these massive investments, transactions, acquisition of
companies and properties abroad were executed by the Advantage after the
Aircel-Maxis deal in 2006. It is learned that ED and IT has dispatched all
these information to Supreme Court, which is monitoring the probe on
Aircel-Maxis scam in a sealed cover and also shared with their counterparts in
CBI. Both CBI and the ED had said in their chargesheets that FIPB clearance
given by then Finance Minister Chidambaram to Maxis to acquire Aircel was
totally illegal.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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J Gopikrishnanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13957669130831957764noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15659562854748742.post-32004793125136910592016-03-08T07:06:00.000-08:002016-03-11T08:42:45.020-08:00Six telecom companies hushed up over Rs. 45000 cr : CAG<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiBaxbNJ8CTlC9b4y6p9ilwBnnxn7BoykflWJBKd_jRG6HlSHFO6wP_p46eP9-k6w__Yw_rEPx-0CywRNPSk6YlfzzwU68DAzm3-_toEA7Ro4thTGgrucdfxSCT9lb68jmuV7IXUZMge0/s1600/The+Pioneer+March+8%252C+2016.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiBaxbNJ8CTlC9b4y6p9ilwBnnxn7BoykflWJBKd_jRG6HlSHFO6wP_p46eP9-k6w__Yw_rEPx-0CywRNPSk6YlfzzwU68DAzm3-_toEA7Ro4thTGgrucdfxSCT9lb68jmuV7IXUZMge0/s320/The+Pioneer+March+8%252C+2016.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; text-transform: uppercase;">6 TELECOS HUSHED UP OVER RS45K CR:
CAG<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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J Gopikrishnan / New Delhi / March 8, 2016</div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">In what could be a mega scandal, the Comptroller and
Auditor-General (CAG) has unearthed under-invoicing of revenue to the tune of
over Rs45,000 crore by six telecom companies from 2006 to 2010. The CAG
submitted a related report to the President’s Office and the Ministry of
Finance in mid-February. The report, which is expected to be tabled in
Parliament during the Budget Session, says that due to this massive
under-invoicing, the exchequer lost more than Rs12,000 crore in taxes, that
does not include penalty for tax evasion.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 7.9pt; outline: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Given the go-ahead by the Supreme Court and the Delhi High Court,
the CAG audited the revenue and expenditure receipts of Airtel, Vodafone,
Reliance Communications, Idea, Tata and Aircel.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 7.9pt; outline: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The auditors decided to undertake this exercise after they came
across several cases of discrepancies in revenue calculations of the telecom
companies in 2010 when the CAG was preparing the 2G scam report. Alerted
by the auditors, then CAG Vinod Rai ordered auditing of the revenue and
expenditure of the six telecom companies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 7.9pt; outline: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">After they challenged the decision in court, in 2011 Delhi HC
asked the six telecom companies to share their accounts with the CAG and passed
an order ratifying the CAG’s decision in January 2014. The SC in April 17,
2014, upheld the Delhi HC’s judgment on CAG’s power to audit any entity related
to the revenue and expenditure of the Government.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 7.9pt; outline: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">During the audit, which officially started during August 2014, the
CAG had called for the records and inspected the offices of all telecom companies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 7.9pt; outline: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">“We were happy to note that there were several whistleblowers
forthcoming to reveal the methods of under-invoicing by the telecom companies.
Some companies were maintaining actual and manipulated accounting books and
these whistleblowers helped us track down the original revenue earned,” said a
senior auditor of the team engaged in the audit of the telecom
companies. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 7.9pt; outline: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">According to the auditors, each of the six firms under-invoiced
the revenue between Rs6,000 crore and Rs18,000 crore. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 7.9pt; outline: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">“What we noted is the difference in auditing in Government and
private sectors. In the Government sector, not many people will come forward to
help us, whereas in the private sector several people are forthcoming to expose
the frauds to CAG,” he added. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 7.9pt; outline: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">During the 2G scam audit, the CAG found discrepancies in the
customer base of the telecom companies and revenue and tax figures. The telecom
companies fielded a battery of top lawyers to oppose the CAG in the High Court
and the Supreme Court.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 14.25pt; text-align: justify;">The estimated tax evasion figure of over Rs12,000 crore is based
on the tax structure and telecom levy norms between 2006 and 2010. The loss
figure does not include the penalty for under-invoicing of revenue.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 14.25pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 14.25pt;">It is expected that if the Government start acting on the CAG
report, the telecom companies might have to pay up to Rs30,000 crore to
the exchequer by way of tax and penalty. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 14.25pt;">.......................................</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 14.25pt;">PS : </span><span style="line-height: 14.25pt;">CAG report was tabled in Parliament on March 11, 2016. </span><span style="line-height: 14.25pt;">Recommending
the Government to check the revenues of telecom companies from 1999, the CAG in
its report exposed that from 2006 to 2010, six
major operators had under- invoiced Rs. 46045.75 crore resulting a tax loss of
Rs.12488.93 crore to the exchequer. The apex auditor caught Airtel, Tata,
Reliance Communications, Idea, Vodafone and Aircel for hushing up their revenues
to evade mandatory remitting of portion of the revenue to the Government, which
was collected from people.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 14.25pt;">The detailed
audit report has devoted one chapter for each telecom company’s revenue during
the four years and tax evasion. Among the total tax evasion of more than Rs.12488
crore, Reliance Communications evaded Rs.3728.54 crore and Tata evaded
Rs.3215.39 crore. CAG found Airtel evaded Rs. 2651.89 crore, followed by
Vodafone (Rs1665.39crore), Idea (Rs.964.89 crore) and Aircel (Rs.262.83crore).</span></div>
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J Gopikrishnanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13957669130831957764noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15659562854748742.post-74121126195391175472015-08-03T09:18:00.000-07:002015-08-03T09:18:21.967-07:00Aircel-Maxis spectre back to haunt Chidambaram<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<strong><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; padding: 0in;">Aircel-Maxis spectre back to haunt Chidambaram<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></strong></div>
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<strong><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; padding: 0in;">CBI seeks details of deal’s audit from CAG</span></strong><b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<strong><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; padding: 0in;">J Gopikrishnan<o:p></o:p></span></strong></div>
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<strong><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; padding: 0in;">August 3, 2015 ‘The Pioneer’ <o:p></o:p></span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">In
a move that could spell trouble for former Finance Minister P Chidambaram, the
CBI has sought from the CAG details of its audit report in the Aircel-Maxis
deal exposing “undisclosed” and “illegal” fund flow of Rs1,255
crore to Aircel from Malaysian company Maxis.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">While
the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) had given approval for only
`3,514 crore of investment by Maxis in Aircel, the CAG’s P&T Audit wing
with the help of its counterpart auditors from Malaysia, has discovered that
Aircel got `4,769 crore from Maxis in clear violation of Foreign Exchange
Management Act (FEMA) and Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">“During
the course of investigation of the above-referred case (Aircel-Maxis), it
transpired that P&T Audit Office had conducted audit of Department of
Telecommu-nications with reference to the Aircel-Maxis deal and had raised
certain audit paras/objections. In this context, the following
documents/information are required,” said CBI in a “Most Urgent” communication
to CAG in the first week of July.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The
CBI sought details of the audit report, audit paras/objections raised and also
replies from Finance Ministry and Department of Telecom. In its final finding
in January, the CAG’s P&T Audit wing observed that the FIPB approval to Aircel-Maxis
was a “mockery” of FDI norms. It also pointed out that communications from the
Finance Ministry in 2006 were “silent” on the value of the FDI flow in the
above deal. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">It
also blamed Finance Ministry and DoT for allowing Maxis to acquire 99.3 per
cent of shares in Aircel in “secret ways.” During that period in 2006, foreign
companies were allowed to invest only 74 per cent in telecom companies.
Interestingly to the CAG’s query in this regard, the Ministry of Finance in
September 2013 said they had relied on the statement given by the Company
Secretary of Aircel. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Reiterating
the CBI’s earlier findings, the auditors also said that as FIPB Chairman
Chidambaram had no authority to approve any deal above `600 crore.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">As
per the rule, any investment above Rs 600 core has to be approved by the
Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA). Despite this, the FIPB meeting
chaired by Chidambaram approved the Rs 3,500 crore worth Aircel-Maxis deal in
March 2006.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The
CAG auditors found that this was the only case in which Chidambaram gave FIPB
approval, while he referred all other similar cases to the CCEA. Under
Chidambaram, the Finance Ministry even sent Malaysian company Maxis’ subsidiary
Astro’s Rs 660 crore investment proposal in Sun TV Group to the CCEA for
approval. The CBI in its charge sheet against former Telecom Minister Dayanidhi
Maran, termed this investment as a quid pro quo from the Malaysian tycoon
Ananda Krishnan.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">“Audit
further found that the letter of the Finance Ministry conveying the approval of
FIPB in March 2006 did not indicate the approved quantum (amount) of the
foreign investment i.e., upto which value the investment was to be made by
Maxis group in Aircel Ltd,” said the CAG’s audit wing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">It
was interesting to note that the Finance Ministry’s letter was dated March 20,
2006, and on the very next day Maxis invested Rs 3,514.35crore in Aircel. The
CAG in its findings has given a detailed chart on how Rs 4,769 crore has flown
from Maxis to Aircel.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The
auditors also found that the Finance Ministry’s communications to Aircel were
addressed to the c/o address of Amarchand Mangaldas & Suresh A Shroff &
Co. Incidentally, in December 2014, Chidambaram represented one of the
promoters of this firm in their legal battle of separation in Mumbai High Court.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">In
its charge sheet in August 29, 2014 against Maran brothers and Maxis owners,
the CBI said that Chidambaram illegally gave FIPB clearance to Aircel-Maxis
deal. The charge sheet also said that probe in the illegalities in grant of the
FIPB clearances will be finished soon. In October, the Supreme Court (SC)
had ordered the CBI to submit a status report on the probe against Chidambaram
upon BJP leader Subramanian Swamy’s petition.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">In
the first week of December, the CBI had interrogated the former Finance
Minister. However, the CBI Joint-Director Ashok Tewari, the officer who
summoned Chidambaram was unceremoniously shunted out to his parent cadre in
Himachal Pradesh within months.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Enforcement
Directorate (ED) had already attached Rs.750 crore worth of properties of Sun
TV in March. However, the ED has not yet launched prosecution proceedings
against the people involved for PMLA and FEMA violations in the Aircel-Maxis
scam. The SC is expected to hear the case next week.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
J Gopikrishnanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13957669130831957764noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15659562854748742.post-79921721519173487652015-05-28T01:21:00.000-07:002015-05-28T01:21:27.917-07:00My Interview in Dagens Nyheter in March 2012 about 2G Scam<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Below is the rough translation of my interview appeared in Swedish-Norwegian newspaper - Dagens Nyheter (DN). The interview was published on March 23, 2012. I was in Norway to present a paper on "India's Telecom Scandal' at annual media conference called SKUP. The interview was bascially focused on the role of Telenor, the Government controlled telecom company in 2G Scam :<br />
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<b>Telenor
knew all </b><br />
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MARTE RAMUZ ERIKSEN<br />
TONSBERG<o:p></o:p></div>
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The
Indian journalist J. Gopikrishnan (41) revealed
the corruption scandal that could cost Telenor 17
billion kroner. He refuses to accept that Telenor did not know
the about the corruption allegations surrounding on its Indian partner. Telenor says it is innocent. I won’t agree,
said the Indian journalist J. Gopikrishnan.<o:p></o:p></div>
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He
was the first journalist who questioned how a number of companies without the
knowledge of the telecom industry were awarded cellular licenses in India in
2008. Gopikrishnan has since been credited with having discovered what is known
as India's biggest corruption scandal. Time magazine has named the issue as one
of the worst examples of abuse of power ever.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Among
the companies that were awarded mobile phone licenses was the real estate
company Unitech. Norwegian Telenor entered into partnership with Unitech in
2009. Today, their jointly owned Uninor 41 million customers, but the company
is now without a mobile license after a recent highest Indian court’s order.<o:p></o:p></div>
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In
December 2008, J. Gopikrishnan and medium-sized newspaper
The Pioneer revealed close ties between the former telecommunications minister Andimuthu Raja and
several real estate companies that
were awarded mobile licenses.<br />
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The way the awards were handed out on, after a first
come first served principle, is later cancelled by the
Indian Supreme Court, and both the
now former telecommunications minister
and Telenor partner Sanjay Chandra is accused of corruption.<br />
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Telenor, the company came after the licenses were
awarded. The company therefore believes it is an
innocent casualty in the case, and that it had no reason
to doubt the way the licenses were awarded.<br />
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Telenor’s
claim that they did not know anything can’t be believable, says J. Gopikrishnan.
I do not think you Norwegians are stupid. First, Telenor
was very much aware of the value inherent in the
Indian telecom market, and must have understood that the
licenses were awarded for cheap, he says. Obviously there
was huge corruption and known to all.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Second, Telenor is
familiar with the political divisions in India
and Asia. The company knows well that it is not
possible to enter India when they have an already established telecom operation
in Pakistan, says Gopikrishnan, referring to
the inflamed relations between Pakistan and India.<o:p></o:p></div>
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He
believes that Telenor must have relied
on political connections of its Indian partner and to was
allowed to invest in India by paying a premium amount. He believes,
however, Telenor can work in the Indian market in the long run if
they win auction.<br />
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Robbery in broad daylight<br />
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Telenor
was proud on the wrong partner knowing all. Now, the
best thing it can do now is to pay the market price when
the licenses will be auctioned again. J. Gopikrishnan believes this
corruption case in India is robbery in broad
daylight. He tells about the deadlines that were
changed in the last minute and that the telephone
companies were able to raise money in such a short time are
ample examples of manipulation. Now he believes the Indian Government's
only option is to sell the cancelled licenses again
in an auction to the highest possible price. Gopikrishnan guess Telenor must
have to pay between three and four billion kroner to restore the licenses Uninor lost, corresponding to
17-23 million kroner. </div>
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This weekend Gopikrishnan is attending journalists'
conference of SKUP in Tonsberg town.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="background-color: whitesmoke;">For
me, this is not a scoop. For me it was luck in the career. I
met a whistleblower and he guided me. I only made the
job a journalist should do, he says when asked about his
comments on the journalistic work.</span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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J Gopikrishnanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13957669130831957764noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15659562854748742.post-3213123244331437912014-11-15T20:40:00.000-08:002014-11-16T01:20:42.716-08:00Mahatma Gandhi on Journalism<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 15.3333320617676px;">Famous quotes of Mahatma Gandhi on Journalism :<span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">The sole aim of journalism should be
service.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Journalism has become the art of “intelligent
anticipation of events.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Journalism should never be prostituted for
selfish ends or for the sake of merely earning livelihood or, worse still, for
amassing money.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Journalism has a distinct place in
familiarizing and expressing public opinion.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">A Journalist’s peculiar function is to read
the mind of the country and to give definite and fearless expression to that
mind.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">The newspaperman has become a walking
plague. He spreads the contagion of lies and calumnies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">The press was called the Fourth Estate.
It was definitely a power but to misuse that power was criminal.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Newspaper today had almost replaced the
Bible, the Koran, the Gita and other religious scriptures. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">The newspapers should be read for the
study of facts. They should not be allowed to kill the habit of independent
thinking.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">In the East, as in the West, the
newspapers are fast becoming the people’s Bible, the Koran The Zend-Avesta and
the Gita rolled into one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Freedom of the press is a precious
privilege that no country can forego.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">An itch for new is a variety of
dissipation, debilitating to the mind and spirit, unless it is properly curbed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">The liberty of the press is a dear
privilege, apart from the advisability or otherwise of civil disobedience.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">The newspapers had become more important
to the average man than the scriptures.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Courtesy : http://www.gandhi-manibhavan.org/</div>
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J Gopikrishnanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13957669130831957764noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15659562854748742.post-40182381030967215952014-11-12T04:01:00.000-08:002014-11-12T04:01:28.188-08:00If I am pushed, I would think of one more book : Vinod Rai<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><span style="color: #1876b6; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; text-transform: uppercase;">IF I AM PUSHED, I WOULD THINK OF ONE MORE BOOK: VINOD
RAI<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #828282; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Sunday,
21 September 2014 | J GOPIKRISHNAN | in</span><span style="color: #828282; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="color: #828282; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.dailypioneer.com/sunday-edition/agenda"><span style="color: #4f4f4f; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Agenda</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<strong><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">In a free-wheeling interview,
Vinod Rai, whose tell-all book has brought up several debatable topics, shares
with</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;"> </span></b></span><em style="outline: none;"><b><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">J GOPIKRISHNAN</span></b></em><strong><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;"> the intricacies of his
tenure as the 11th Comptroller and Auditor General of India<o:p></o:p></span></strong></div>
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<strong style="outline: none;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">Your
critics are asking what your motive to have come out with this book now is .
How do you answer such queries?</span></strong><span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Actually
after retirement, I thought of letting this thing be a closed chapter. Whatever
CAG can say, we had put it in our reports. But still some people were making
allegations against me and the institution. My colleagues also suggested that I
should put all these things in a book, which can be understandable to the
common man.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 7.5pt; outline: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Our CAG
reports are not widely circulated and are technical in nature. I thought we
should educate and alert the younger generation. These details will give them a
perspective of our system and would lead to a demand for transparency in the
future. As alleged by some people, I am not trying to attack anyone, neither do
I have any motive.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: none; text-align: justify;">
<strong style="outline: none;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">In this
book, you have devoted an entire chapter on the CBI’s ‘dirty tricks’ against
you after the 2G scam came to light. Were you hurt by the UPA Government’s
dubious move to turn the CBI on you?<o:p></o:p></span></strong></div>
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<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">I am not hurt. I was extremely
surprised when I got an e-mail from a journalist, Dheeraj Tiwari, of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em style="outline: none;"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">The Economic Times</span></em><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>on November 30, 2011, asking me for
response on the CBI move to launch a preliminary enquiry (PE) against me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 7.5pt; outline: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">I straight
away called CBI Director Amar Pratap Singh. He said no such thing was proposed
against me, but a probe had been launched against my former colleague Atul Rai.
He sent an officer providing the details of the case.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 7.5pt; outline: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">The
information report provided by the CBI officer showed that a PE was registered
against Rai, CEO and MD of IFCI, and unknown officials of the Ministry of
Finance. The allegations related to some investment decisions of IFCI. Rai
worked with me in the Finance Ministry before he took command of IFCI.
According to the PE, in February 2007, I apparently helped Rai to be
expeditiously relieved from the ministry to become the CEO and MD of IFCI. In
many places in the CBI report, my name was mentioned in a bid to put pressure
on me and create innuendos. CBI’s PE gives an impression that Rai and I are
close relatives. Let me state that I don’t even have a distant relation with
him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 7.5pt; outline: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">I decided
to take on the CBI Director and told him that I will go to the media if the
agency dared to do such nasty things. I asked him, “How can you do such things
against a constitutional authority. If I am challenged, I will go to the media
and expose it all”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<strong style="outline: none;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">You must
be aware of the persons behind this dubious move, but haven’t mentioned them in
your book.<o:p></o:p></span></strong></div>
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<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 7.5pt; outline: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">They
decided to hit me personally after the 2G scam blew out. It was to injure my
credibility and break me, to make me weak. I don’t want to name or identify the
person or persons behind this move. Obviously, they were showing their vendetta
for the CAG report on 2G. It must be a person powerful enough to influence the
CBI Director.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: none; text-align: justify;">
<strong style="outline: none;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">Anyway,
now your enemies are no more in power and you don’t have to worry about the CBI
case.<o:p></o:p></span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">The CBI
has not yet closed this case. Why is it not closing this PE? It is simmering
somewhere. Can you treat officials like this? I am a constitutional authority.
Can the CBI do such things? Are they empowered to put my name in their
information reports?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: none; text-align: justify;">
<strong style="outline: none;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">In your
book, there is no mention about the role of your former boss and then Finance
Minister P Chidambaram in the 2G scam. After the CAG report, his role came out
and even courts have said that he and A Raja decided the price and approved the
sale of shares to foreign companies jointly. How did your audit miss this
angle?<o:p></o:p></span></strong></div>
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<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 7.5pt; outline: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">We have
audited the documents from the DoT. We also checked the documents from Finance Ministry.
We have found objection of Finance Ministry officials. Those days, we did not
come across these documents. These things had not been brought to our notice.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: none; text-align: justify;">
<strong style="outline: none;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">Later, it
was proved that Chidambaram always insisted on illegal non-paper method for
communicating with Raja.<o:p></o:p></span></strong></div>
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<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 7.5pt; outline: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">No
comments. Those days these things were not available to us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: none; text-align: justify;">
<strong style="outline: none;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">CAG
officials are facing tough resistance from Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance in KG Basin
audit. What is your advice to the Government in this regard?<o:p></o:p></span></strong></div>
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<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 7.5pt; outline: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">They are
not co-operating. Documents are not shared with us. The Government has to take
a call. Actually, the Government invited us to conduct an audit on KG Basin.
Hence my suggestion is that in an original contract, there should be a clause
providing liberty to the Government to appoint a Government auditor as and when
it wishes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: none; text-align: justify;">
<strong style="outline: none;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">Now you
are facing legal actions for your revelations. Sanjay Nirupam sent you a
notice. What is your strategy?<o:p></o:p></span></strong></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 7.5pt; outline: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">If they
want to pursue the case, I am ready. I have said only the truth. They have
abused me, called me names in the PAC meeting; there are minutes of the
meeting. I will request the Speaker for the proceedings of the PAC. I must tell
you that some good samaritan MPs had already given me all details which will
prove what Nirupam and Sandeep Dikshit did to me in the meeting.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 7.5pt; outline: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Moreover,
there is a letter written by PAC Chairman Murli Manohar Joshi to all MPs
condemning certain MPs’ behaviour towards me. This letter details how these MPs
behaved with me in the PAC meeting. In that letter dated November 18, 2011,
Joshi cites a Speaker’s ruling which made then Defence Minister VK Krishna
Menon apologise to the CAG. These things are enough for me to prove my points
in the court. I am ready to face anything, if they want to proceed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: none; text-align: justify;">
<strong style="outline: none;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">But your
book is silent on the JPC proceedings. We have heard there are certain Congress
MPs like Manish Tewari who did the same to you.<o:p></o:p></span></strong></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 7.5pt; outline: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">No, it was
different. Manish was aggressive in questioning. In PAC, Nirupam and Sandeep
were calling me all sorts of names. They used the words — fraud, politically
motivated etc. In public, politicians and ministers called me rogue, r-virus,
Bhoomihar from Ghazipur etc. I have explained all these things with fitting
rebuttals in my book.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: none; text-align: justify;">
<strong style="outline: none;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">Certain
media organisations were also after you.<o:p></o:p></span></strong></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 7.5pt; outline: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Generally,
media always supported CAG and widely published our findings. Of course, some
were against us; very few have vested interests. But most of the people in
media always supported us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: none; text-align: justify;">
<strong style="outline: none;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">What are
your future plans? Entering politics or writing more books?<o:p></o:p></span></strong></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 7.5pt; outline: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">As far as
politics is concerned, I can say no, never. I am not fit for politics. More
books? Well, if I am pushed, I would think of one more book. I have not yet
taken any decision on future plans; may be I will in a month’s time. I am not
saying no to more books.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; outline: none; text-align: justify;">
<strong style="outline: none;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #555555; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">So you
have more arsenal in store…if you are pushed?<o:p></o:p></span></strong></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;">I said if
I am pushed, I will write one more.</span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 7.5pt; outline: none; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;"><i>[Published in 'The Pioneer' on Sept 21, 2014]</i></span></div>
<br /></div>
J Gopikrishnanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13957669130831957764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15659562854748742.post-43553191234561344122014-03-28T01:32:00.000-07:002014-03-28T01:40:06.600-07:00Rules flouted to aid Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio : CAG<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16pt;">DoT rules flouted
to aid Reliance Jio : CAG<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;">‘The Pioneer” - January 20, 2014 | J Gopikrishnan | New Delhi<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: Georgia, serif; padding: 0cm;">After the exposé on irregularities in the KG
Basin, the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India (CAG) has found blatant
violations of Department of Telecommunications (DoT) rules and favouritism in
the manner the Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Group was allowed entry into the
telecom sector. The CAG has raised several uncomfortable questions about the
favouritism shown to Reliance Jio during the audit of 3G / Broadband Wireless
Access auction.</span><strong><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-weight: normal; padding: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></span></strong></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 8.3pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The
CAG’s recent findings and questionnaires to DoT detail the way the Government
provided a backdoor entry to Mukesh Ambani’s company in the telecom sector in
2010. The apex auditor also claimed that favouritism was shown to the company
that led to possible loss of more than Rs 20,000-crore to the exchequer during
2011-13. The CAG also blamed DoT for providing monopoly to Reliance Jio
in the broadband and 4G sector by withdrawing State-owned companies BSNL and
MTNL.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 8.3pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The DoT
has not yet answered the CAG’s queries on violations. Documents available
with The Pioneer show that auction for Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) Spectrum
was stage-managed to give backdoor entry to Reliance Jio.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 8.3pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The CAG
in its preliminary findings said, “a small company” Infotel Broadband Services
Private Limited (IBSPL) was given approval to take part in the auction in
mid-2010 without meeting the net worth limit and allowed to bid for more than
Rs 12,750-crore.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 8.3pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The
small company, with a turnover of just Rs 16 lakh and a single subscriber, had
only Rs 3-crore authorised capital during auction. “The DoT did, however,
neither seek the sources of funding for furnishing the EMD (Earnest Money
Deposit) of Rs 252-crore (1,500 times the company’s annual turnover or 100
times the paid-up capital of the company) in March 2010, at the time of
application for the BWA spectrum,” said the CAG’s preliminary findings, seeking
response from the DoT.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 8.3pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The
IBSPL won the auction in all circles of India. Within hours of winning the
auction, the subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) was allowed to
take over 95 per cent of the shares of the small company. The takeover deal was
worth Rs 6,000-crore. In the preliminary findings, the auditors say this deal
created a windfall of more than Rs 4,800-crore to the IBSPL, which became the
RIL’s subsidiary.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The auditors blamed the DoT for violating the
mandatory lock-in period of three years, which bars acquisitions and mergers in
the telecom sector. <span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">“A non-participant company exploited the
loophole left by DoT officials in the eligibility criterion for obtaining BWA
spectrum by acquiring a winning company without participating in the auction
process, within hours of closure of the auction process, thereby vitiating the
sanctity of the auction process,” said CAG.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The four-page communication to DoT, signed by
Senior Audit Officer Rajendra Kumar, details the RIL’s surrogate takeover plans
of the small company during March-June 2010. <span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">The auditors also blamed DoT
for allowing Reliance Jio to obtain voice service facility while paying only
for the BWA Spectrum, which is widely termed as 4G in the Indian telecom
sector.</span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: Georgia, serif; padding: 0cm;">According to CAG auditors, Reliance Jio only
paid Rs 12,750-crore for getting broadband operations across India. But later
the DoT granted voice facility also without charging any extra
money. According to the questionnaire sent to DoT, the auditors pointed
out that for the similar voice service facility, the 3G auction winners paid
more than Rs 33,000-crore for operating in all circles in India during the same
period. Sources in CAG indicated that apart from favouritism, this move of DoT
created a clear loss of Rs 20,000-crore to the public exchequer. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">After Reliance Jio’s entry, the State-run
BSNL and MTNL withdrew from the broadband sector. These PSUs were also granted
BWA spectrum. The Union Cabinet recently approved the reimbursement of money to
BSNL and MTNL. <span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">In its communication to DoT, CAG said this
move will leave “virtually the entire field to a company that had not
participated in the auction process.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Questioning
the withdrawal of State-run companies, CAG officials indicated this was a clear
move to provide monopoly in broadband sector to the Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance
Jio. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">[This report was published in "The Pioneer" on Jan 20, 2014]</span></div>
</div>
J Gopikrishnanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13957669130831957764noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15659562854748742.post-68771992373163038332014-03-28T01:20:00.001-07:002014-03-28T01:38:54.241-07:0026/11 hero still fighting the enemy within!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 9pt;"><b>26/11 hero still fighting the enemy within!</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 9pt;">"The Pioneer - November 26, 2013 | J Gopikrishnan | New Delhi</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 8pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;">Even as the nation observes the fifth anniversary
of the 26/11 terror attack on Tuesday, a paralysed NSG Commando is fighting a
legal battle against the Indian Army for justice. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;">Havildar PV Manesh who got the
Shaurya Chakra has been transferred from his hometown in Kerala to New Delhi
and his helper has been taken away.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;">Mercifully, the Delhi High
Court has stayed the transfer, and asked the Army and Government of India to
file a reply by January 24, 2014. The Army may come out with its own
justification, but the fact remains that the commando needs round-the-clock
care and attendance. </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 8pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;">However, the High Court’s
order may not be the end of Manesh’s ordeal. He has been constantly abused and
harassed by Army officials and even a plea to Defence Minister AK Antony, by
his wife has not helped matters.</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 8pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;">Manesh went into a coma for
four months after being hit by a grenade thrown by terrorists. The right side
of his body is paralysed and a splinter is still lodged in his head. During the
NSG operation in Hotel Oberoi, Manesh saved 40 people and eliminated two
terrorists before being hit.</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 8pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;">After a wheelchair-bound
Manesh was discharged from hospital, the Army posted him to the Territorial
Army Unit in his hometown Kannur. He was also allotted a bystander to help him.
Manesh belonged to the 27 Madras Unit of the Madras Regiment and was in NSG on
deputation.</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 8pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;">Manesh’s troubles began when
he went in for Ayurvedic treatment, which helped him to the extent that he
started walking small distances with the help of a cane by the end of 2009.</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 8pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;">However, the Army refused to
meet his medical expenses claiming that Ayurveda was not approved for
reimbursement. After the Delhi High Court’s intervention, the Army was forced
to pay the bills as a special case.</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 8pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;">On September 17, the Army issued
Movement Orders to Manesh asking him to join the Unit in Delhi . </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;">Manesh’s pleas urging the Army
to let him remain in his hometown Kannur, where he was accommodated on
compassionate grounds, were not entertained by the authorities of his Unit.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;">Shockingly, the Army
authorities took the decision to move Manesh a week after his wife Sheema
appealed to Defence Minister AK Antony urging him to retain her husband in the
hometown station of the Territorial Army, given his physical condition.</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 8pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;">According to officials in the
Defence Ministry, on getting her petition, Antony instructed the “authorities
concerned” to retain Manesh permanently in his hometown unit of the Territorial
Army as a special case. Despite this, the Army Unit ordered Manesh to join
Delhi by October 30. Meanwhile, the authorities also called back the helper who
had been assisting Manesh to move around for the past five years.</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 8pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;">After all doors were shut on
him, Manesh approached the Delhi High Court. The bench, headed by Justice Gita
Mittal and Justice VP Vaish stayed the transfer order on October 22. The next
hearing of the case is posted on January 24.</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 8pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;">Apart from citing his physical
inabilities, Manesh said in the Writ Petition that he was abused and threatened
by the Commanding Officer of 27 Madras Unit. His wife’s petition to Antony
clearly talked about constant harassment and threats by the authorities of the
Regiment. “Due to the harassment by the authorities, he suffered illness, fits
and headaches,” said Sheema’s letter to Antony .</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 8pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;">Manesh, Sheema and their
five-year-old son live with aged parents in Kannur. He is currently undergoing
Ayurvedic treatment twice a month at a hospital 200 kilometres away from home.</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 8pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;">[This report was published in "The Pioneer" on Nov 26, 2013]</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><br /></b></span>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: x-small;">Note : One good thing happened - I got call from Defence Minister AK Antony around</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: x-small;"> 10 am, promising immediate action to ensure justice to PV Manesh. By first week of March 2014, orders were issued to retain Manesh in his home town Territorial Army Unit in Kannur District, Kerala. Feel so happy as journalist to bring justice to a wounded soldier of 26/11 terror attack. </span></b></div>
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J Gopikrishnanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13957669130831957764noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15659562854748742.post-10051100111475781132013-10-22T01:30:00.000-07:002013-11-10T09:58:23.316-08:00JPC probe on 2G Scam: The absurd political theatre<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5NlqzrUFgCzs6boIi15KkmgsvhedIce6m4UC5a2MBYA4qkxuL4hCFTw1On6tspDTI2V6RE9OzgnZ1Y8MjdZMLP0wt1XEkkzHqBYwuap2r1kcTOEDn0KO_mzx5fIFYmWVV8KQUedia5ro/s1600/The+Pioneer+Oct+17,+2013+Page+9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5NlqzrUFgCzs6boIi15KkmgsvhedIce6m4UC5a2MBYA4qkxuL4hCFTw1On6tspDTI2V6RE9OzgnZ1Y8MjdZMLP0wt1XEkkzHqBYwuap2r1kcTOEDn0KO_mzx5fIFYmWVV8KQUedia5ro/s320/The+Pioneer+Oct+17,+2013+Page+9.jpg" width="239" /></a></div>
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<b>FIRST THE SCAM, THEN THE SHAM</b></div>
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J Gopikrishnan - October 17, 2013 – The Pioneer OpEd</div>
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As expected, the Congress-dominated Joint Parliamentary
Committee has given a report on the 2G Spectrum scam that clears Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh and Union Minister for Finance P Chidambaram, and puts all the
blame on former Minister of Communication and Information Technology A Raja.
This dubious report, prepared without summoning the trio by the JPC headed by
PC Chacko, is among the darkest chapters in <st1:country-region w:st="on">India</st1:country-region>’s parliamentary system. The
Congress has once again shown its arrogance and disrespect to Parliament by
achieving its dubious designs through a majority of votes, with the help of its
bargainable and perennial supporters like the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan
Samaj Party. Mr Chacko had no qualm in accepting the Congress spokesperson’s
post during his stint as JPC Chairman. His role and job was to provide an
escape route to the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister.</div>
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But the worst was the performance of the two JD(U) Members
of Parliament in the JPC. They were absent during the final voting to adopt the
report. These MPs had a few months back rejected the findings of Mr Chacko-led
JPC and signed on a memorandum along with BJP members of the panel for the
dismissal of Mr Chacko. One of them, Mr Sharad Yadav, had been vocal in
Parliament for the past five years on the 2G Spectrum scam. Due to his party’s
new political line, he and his party colleague had to play the abstaining
drama, facilitating the Congress to get a walkover.</div>
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The scam basically happened during Raja’s period. But the
Congress cleverly argued for a probe into telecom deals from 2000 in a bid to
catch the BJP off guard. Then it further went back to the period from 1997.
This has been the Congress’s strategy when it has been hit by scams. The same
strategy was adopted in the coal block allocation irregularity; the party-led
Government extended the probe to 1994.</div>
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The saddest part is that the JPC had been used as a tool to
bully then Comptroller and Auditor-General Vinod Rai. The Congress was showing
its wrath on him for exposing its Government’s corruption. Mr Rai was summoned
five times and literally ragged by members of the Congress. All anger on Mr Rai
was over the calculation of the huge presumptive loss — ranging from Rs 45,000
crore to Rs 1.76 lakh crore. The CAG’s findings were ratified by the Supreme
Court in several orders and judgements, including in the cancellation of
tainted 122 licences.</div>
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The Department of Telecommunications, which parroted now
Telecommunications Minister Kapil Sibal’s infamous ‘zero loss’ theory, thought
nothing of writing to the JPC about the alleged Rs 42,000 crore loss during the
NDA regime. The JPC was used as a tool promote this fictitious calculation in a
bid to indict former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.</div>
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After all, the theory of loss of more than Rs 42,000 crore
is a laughable one. In those days, a mobile phone user had to pay a monthly
rental charge of Rs 500. That means, Rs 6000 were paid annually for holding a
mobile phone. In 1999, considering worldwide practices, the Government
decided to waive this fee. After 13 years Mr Sibal says this decision led to a
huge loss. The Congress-dominated JPC wants us to believe the tainted Telecom
Department, but not the findings of the CAG.</div>
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Moreover, Mr Vajpayee’s name was added in the list of
witnesses to be summoned. These attempts were nothing but part of the
dirty tricks department of the Congress. Mr Chacko now says that Mr Vajpayee’s
name was inadvertently figured in the list. What an explanation!</div>
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When Opposition MPs demanded the summoning of Mr
Chidambaram, it the JPC went for a vote, knowing it had a majority. According
to the judgement of the <st1:street w:st="on">2G Special
Court</st1:street>, Mr Chidambaram and Raja were party to two
decisions. First, fixing the price of the spectrum at dirt cheap price, and
second, offloading of shares of tainted companies to multinationals at
exorbitant prices. Raja became an accused primarily for these two reasons.</div>
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However, the courts said later that petitioner Subramanian
Swamy did not prove the criminality of Mr Chidambaram. Is it the duty of Mr
Swamy to find the criminality of Mr Chidambaram? Anyway, the courts did not ask
the Central Bureau of Investigation to treat Mr Chidambaram like Raja.</div>
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Whatever the fans and cronies of Mr Chidambaram argue, the
fact is that he is politically, administratively and morally responsible
for the sins charged on Raja.</div>
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The JPC did not touch the subject of the Aircel-Maxis scam,
which is an open and shut case for fixing the fate of Mr Chidambaram and Mr
Dayanidhi Maran. This dubious deal was approved by Mr Chidambaram, by violating
all norms. The deal, worth more than Rs 4,000 crore, had no mandatory Cabinet
Committee on Economic Affairs approval. Maxis acquired almost 100 per cent
shares in Aircel, while the rules permits a maximum of 74 per cent. There was a
huge variation in the sale of shares. Seventy four per cent was sold for around
Rs 4,000 crore and the rest went for a pittance of Rs 30 crore in
same period.</div>
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The 2012 Budget Session of Parliament came to a standstill
on revelations about the complicity of Mr Chidambaram in the Aircel-Maxis deal.
But Mr Chacko, who jumped on a tainted retired auditor’s dilly dallying
utterances (a planted one), kept his eyes, ears and mouth shut.</div>
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Mr Manmohan Singh, a mute spectator in the 2G scam, became a
laughing stock, when he offered to appear before the Public Accounts Committee,
while remaining silent over appearing before the JPC. Raja and Mr Chidambaram
may have fooled the Prime Minister in the allocation of 2G licences, but that
is no excuse for the Prime Minister’s conduct.</div>
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The irony is the dissent notes of the Opposition MPs would
also go through the editing process by the JPC Chairman. And these edited
dissent notes will also be kept as attached with the majority MPs’ report. And
what will happen to this politically cooked-up report? There will be chaos when
it comes to Parliament and as usual, the House will adjourn. No debate will
take place. That is what the perpetrators of the 2G Spectrum scam want. </div>
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The pertinent question is: Should cases related to
corruption be decided on voting along political lines? The JPC probe in the 2G
issue exposes the pitfalls and uselessness of a parliamentary probe, where
ultimately every decision is taken on blind political affiliation. </div>
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The silver lining has been the Supreme Court’s intervention
to monitor the CBI probe. Credit goes to Mr Swamy and Mr Prashant Bhushan. At
least Raja and some bribe-givers were caught.</div>
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The <st1:street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">Special
Court</st1:address></st1:street> was set up to hear the case on a daily
basis. Hopefully, the judgement will come by mid-2014. Meanwhile, what of the
others who have escaped? Answer: Let us leave it to the people’s court, which
will give its verdict by May 2014.</div>
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J Gopikrishnanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13957669130831957764noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15659562854748742.post-39809936718388381152013-07-06T07:33:00.003-07:002013-07-06T07:40:15.519-07:00Choppergate kingpin's UK home on sale<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">J
Gopikrishnan | New Delhi</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">July
01, 2013<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While the Indian and Italian
probe agencies are still uncertain about his whereabouts, the fugitive
Christian Michel, a major beneficiary of the AgustaWestland chopper scam, has
put out an advertisement for sale of his plush home in London .</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">According to the advertisement, Michel wants
4,75,000 British Pound Sterling (more than Rs 40 crore) for his home in
Chelsea , London .<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Italian probe team had nabbed
another middleman Guido Ralph Haschke, but Michel remained out of their
clutches. According to the charge sheet filed in an Italian court, out of the
total commission of around 51 million euros (Rs 360 crore), Michel had received
a major portion of 31 million euros (Rs 218 crore).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Michel’s father Wolfgang Richard Michel was very
active in Indian defence deals in the 80s and the 90s and was close to the
Congress party leadership. Wolfgang, who passed away in August 2012, was a
prominent arms dealer in aerospace industry.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He had played an active role in arms supply by Britain to Libyan dictator Gaddafi. His links also spread to Russia ,
Iran and Iraq . His son Christian Michel had taken over his
father’s business in the early 90s.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The house sale advertisement, that appeared
in the property website Rightmove, shows several photos of exteriors and interiors
of Michel’s home. Marsh & Parsons, a property firm in Chelsea
is entrusted with the sale of this home. The huge house, close to River
Thames, carries the address: Old Chelsea Mews, 18 Danvers Street , SW3.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is the address assigned by Michel’s father
Wolfgang to a company registered in Panama, where he routed commission
from arms deals across the globe. Wolfgang had registered this company in 1995
along with one Vikram Singh from New Delhi . The company called Keyser
Incorporated, registered in Panama was taken over by his son
Michel. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Christian Michel alias Christian James Michel
left London around 2005. For the last seven years, he has been
living in Dubai . He last visited New Delhi in October 2012.
He was forced to leave London , after he was declared insolvent. After
the insolvency, he was barred from becoming a director in those companies and
was forced to dissolve all eight companies registered in the UK .<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">According to Italian newspapers, “mysterious
Michel” was known as the close confidant of Giuseppe Orsi, the arrested chief
of Finmeccanica, the maker of the AgustaWestland choppers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Born in 1961, Michel is little known to the
public. On the internet, there is no evidence of his business or his statement.
Not a photo or an interview. Yet, Michel is very well known in Defence
establishments in New Delhi ,” says Lettera 43 the Italian newspaper
report titled “Christian Michel, the English middleman of Finmeccanica.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Michel’s sister Caroline Michel is a well known
literary agent in UK and chief of a noted publishing house Peter
Fraser and Dunlop. Michel is currently running a trading firm called Global
Services FZE in Dubai Airport Free Zone and believed to be staying in the posh
Palm Jumeirah area in Dubai .<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">[The r</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">eport was published in 'The Pioneer' on July 1, 2013]</span></i></div>
</div>
J Gopikrishnanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13957669130831957764noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15659562854748742.post-6231949662611035802013-06-15T02:34:00.001-07:002013-06-15T02:38:00.545-07:00Hectic lobbying to increase gas price to provide bumper to Reliance Industries Limited<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnCcOdeXP4wyOjfrwQodmjAnf5ZASOvNv3Bn_jOZ2kMxcqGB9UUmOf5ySsbnb6TwhHtOLPM9cExP8phsjQ-HJ3CnCNMlsbjxRbdHMQMuRtUzK61JKUQC4wTG3uR5zV8OVkIE1MlYsdFmc/s1600/The+Pioneer+May+30,+2013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnCcOdeXP4wyOjfrwQodmjAnf5ZASOvNv3Bn_jOZ2kMxcqGB9UUmOf5ySsbnb6TwhHtOLPM9cExP8phsjQ-HJ3CnCNMlsbjxRbdHMQMuRtUzK61JKUQC4wTG3uR5zV8OVkIE1MlYsdFmc/s320/The+Pioneer+May+30,+2013.jpg" width="147" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="color: #1876b6; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-transform: uppercase;">GOVT WANTS TO HIKE GAS PRICE, HELP RIL; MINISTRIES
RESIST</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">J Gopikrishnan / New Delhi<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">May 30, 2013<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">As the countdown has started for the end of the UPA Government, a move
is underway to sharply increase the price of the indigenously produced natural
gas. A Cabinet note shows that a section of the Government wants to bring the
domestic price on a par with international rates. The move, which would come as
windfall for Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), has triggered
sharp differences among various Ministries.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">According to the note prepared by the Petroleum Ministry for
consideration of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Power Ministries are
opposed to any price hike, the Finance and Petroleum Ministries and Planning
Commission are and Planning Commission varies (Million Metric British
Thermal Units) and $14 per mmbtu.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The note released by CPI veteran leader Gurudas Dasgupta last week to
the media clearly shows that Fertiliser and Power Ministry are opposing the
hike citing national interest and fearing huge loss to exchequer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Fertilizer and Power sector are the major consumers of natural gas.
According to Dasgupta, the rate suggested by Finance, Petroleum and Planning
Commission reflects the wishes of Mukesh Ambani’s RIL, which will be major
beneficiary of the largesse. At present the Government is purchasing gas at the
rate of $4.2 per mmbtu. This rate was fixed by an Empowered Group of Ministers
(eGoM) few years back.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">In a series of letters to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, CPI(M) leader
and member of the Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Gas Tapan Sen has
pointed out that the current price of $4.2 per mmbtu itself is a bonanza to the
RIL. In his letters, Sen pointed out that the RIL quoted $2.4 per mmbtu for
supply of gas to NTPC in an international competitive bid.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The current controversy started after the Rangarajan Committee
recommended a high rate of $8.2 per mmbtu for the purchases of domestically
produced gas from April 2014, with provisions of specific increases in each
stage in the coming five years. The committee’s report was submitted in
December 2012. In India , the major gas producers are public sector
undertakings ONGC and Oil India with around 60 per cent of total output, and
the major private player is RIL, which started controlling the sector after its
production started from KG Basin. According to the estimates of Petroleum
Ministry, by 2016-17 the private players will control more than 50 per cent of
the domestic gas production in India .<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The Fertilizer and Power sectors will be hit hard in case of increase in
the price of the gas from current level of $4.2 per mmbtu. Petroleum Minister
Veerappa Moily’s arguments that the increase in price of gas would earn more
revenue to the public exchequer were totally untenable as the Government had to
shell out huge subsidies in Fertilizer and Power sector.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Moily’s arguments that ONGC and OIL India would benefit more did not
take into account the fact after gas price hike, the Government would be
required to pay huge subsidies in different sectors, which The ultimate
beneficiary would be the private gas producing contractors, who wants to get
money in dollars for a domestic production.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Is the UPA Government ignoring the interest of the nation over corporate
interests?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">[The report was
published in ‘The Pioneer’ on May 30, 2013]</span></div>
J Gopikrishnanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13957669130831957764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15659562854748742.post-33409409896216664192013-03-28T07:19:00.000-07:002013-03-28T07:53:09.038-07:00RAM TERI GANGA MOILY!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij3KjklXp3crL_DlH8IfBdrP7HIzg4tclFYS8VeCCtMbrG3OZsCMG3msaxv3FeR34vQks2yY2Em_3itn5wC96FpdEuSFTzEyXvtjm-IHaaD7Pfb0dNex5G5DrEcCNrHsWJfhdMChSQN4Y/s1600/The+Pioneer+March+18,+2013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij3KjklXp3crL_DlH8IfBdrP7HIzg4tclFYS8VeCCtMbrG3OZsCMG3msaxv3FeR34vQks2yY2Em_3itn5wC96FpdEuSFTzEyXvtjm-IHaaD7Pfb0dNex5G5DrEcCNrHsWJfhdMChSQN4Y/s320/The+Pioneer+March+18,+2013.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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J Gopikrishnan / <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New
Delhi</st1:place></st1:city></div>
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March 18, 2013</div>
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Union Petroleum Minister M Veerappa Moily could be in the
dock for raising funds for his family controlled trust from a corporate
giant when he was Corporate Affairs Minister. Moily faces another serious
case of conflict of interest as a top official of Reliance Industries is
advisor to a company controlled by Moily’s son Harsha Moily. Even earlier, the
Minister has faced charges of favouring Reliance in the KG basin case.</div>
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Veerappa Moily has been president of Kissan Sabha Trust
(KST), which received huge funds from ITC from Corporate Social Responsibility
(CSR) budget in September 2012. His son Harsha Moily’s email message to his partner Sudhir P
clearly showed that Moily himself managed the fund from the ITC for his private
trust.</div>
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“Sudhir — Dad just called and confirmed that ITC has
approved the funding the operating expenses of KST (Kissan Sabha Trust) for the
next five years. Therefore, for ITC to process the payments, we have to immediately
furnish ITC all OpEx bills for Karkala & Chikaballarpur for the academic
year 2011-12. Request you to do the needful,” said the email message, which was
also forwarded to Moily’s official email vmoily@ kar.nic.in.</div>
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The subject of the message was Capital Budget for Kissan
Sabha Trust for Funding. The Kissan Sabha Trust is a family-controlled trust of
Moily. It was established decades ago and is running educational institutes and
charitable organisations in Karkala and Chikaballarpur in Karnataka. In addition
to Moily, his wife Malathy, son Harsha and daughter Sushma too are members of
the trust.</div>
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“The total capital cost for Karkala school comes to Rs.1.71
crore and for Chikkaballarpur school Rs.3.10 crore. Total capital cost comes to Rs.4.81 crore…. For operating the schools, our budget right now is Rs.50 lakh for
this year and will increase with PUC students getting admitted. Hence we may
ask for a corpus fund of Rs.6 crore to fund the day to day operations @ 8% per
annum,” said an earlier email sent by Sudhir to Harsha Moily. The email
messages between the duo talk about approaching the corporate sector for the
requirements of the trust.</div>
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The person, Sudhir P, referred in this mail is Sudhir K
Prabhu. He is also a Director in one of the companies run by Moily’s son
and the Karnataka branch head of a Mumbai-based Chartered Accountant’s firm,
which audits companies of Harsha Moily.</div>
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The documents available with The Pioneer show that Harsha
Moily is/was Promoter and Director of four companies, whose business flourished
after Moily became Cabinet Minister in May 2009. The account of one of his
companies shows an unsecured loan of Rs.6 crore from an unknown source.
Moksha-Yug Access India Private Limited is one of the major companies run by
Harsha.</div>
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The company which faced fund crunch after it was established
way back in 2005, literally got “Moksha” after Veerappa Moily landed in Union
Cabinet in 2009 as Law Minister, then moved to Corporate Affairs Minister with
additional charge of Power, and finally shifted to the coveted Petroleum and
Natural Gas portfolio. </div>
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The Moksha-Yug Access (MYA), started as a supply chain
company of rural products, is currently concentrating on milk supply. The
company, which was floated by Harsha and his sister Hamsa, handles more than
one lakh litre of milk supply every day.</div>
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And here comes the Reliance connection. The website of the
company claims that one Mr Ananth Ravi, President of Reliance Industries, is
their Advisor.</div>
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“Mr Ananth Ravi advises MYA on finance related matters. He
has led the Project Finance team of Reliance in the financing of billion dollar
projects in telecom, petroleum and retail sectors. He was also instrumental in
setting up the Reliance’s telecom venture, Reliance Infocomm operations in
Karnataka. He brings to MYA, his vast experience in project management and
finance,” says the company’s website.</div>
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Around 50 per cent of this company’s shares are held by US
and Mauritius-based funds, while Harsha owns around 20 per cent stakes.
Well-known companies like Bharat Forge and Jubilant Agro are stakeholders or
Directors Board of this company.</div>
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MYA Financial Services Private Limited, Rural Crystals
Educational Services Private Limited and MVH Holdings are the other three
companies where Harsha and Moily’s other family members are Directors.</div>
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<o:p>.................................................. </o:p></div>
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<o:p><b>Moily's son speaks out : </b></o:p></div>
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<o:p> </o:p> </div>
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Pioneer News Service / <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New
Delhi</st1:place></st1:city> March 20, 2013</div>
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While Moily maintained a stony silence over the exposé, his
son Harsha Moily issued a clarification through a PR agency. He sought to claim
that their family-controlled Kissan Sabha Trust (KST) “operates on low budget
and expenditures were met from donations from public”.</div>
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“As a practice budget requirements are drawn to understand
the funding requirements to run educational institutions for underprivileged
poor and school dropouts. The estimation for a yearly operating expenditure was
worked out at Rs.50 lakhs a year. A corpus to ensure yearly interest receipt was
worked out at Rs.6 crores to yield Rs.50 lakhs at 8 per cent interest per annum.
The estimation of creating a corpus is an accounting exercise. The Trust has
not received any funding of Rs.6 crores. It has been granted Rs.42 lakhs to fund
the operating expenditure for the year though the operating expenditure is
higher and is met from donations from the public. The trust operates on a low
budget and does not have any corpus or other assets,” an emailed statement on
behalf Harsha Moily maintained.</div>
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Harsha admitted that Ananth Ravi, president of Reliance
Industries, was an “Advisor” in his company Moksha-Yug Access India Private Ltd
(MYA). However, Harsha claimed that <st1:place w:st="on">Ravi</st1:place>
“excused from the Advisory Board” since August 2012 and that he was his
“mentor” from 1999. </div>
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“It is important to note that MYA received funding from
professional investors in 2008, much before my father joined the Government.
MYA’s investors did due diligence on MYA through the most part of 2007, and the
funding from VCs came through in March 2008,” he said, while reacting to this
newspaper’s report that funds started flowing from 2009 when Veerappa Moily
became the Union Cabinet Minister.</div>
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The fact remains that the The Pioneer report focussed on
highlighting Veerappa Moily’s role as Union Corporate Affairs Minister in
managing funds from the corporates for his family-controlled Trust. The
newspaper never mentioned about the amount of funds received by KST from
tobacco major ITC. It cited only the contents of the emails between Harsha and
his partner Sudhir P to established Veerappa Moily’s direct involvement in the
whole issue. The report mentioned about a transaction of Rs 6 crore, as
unsecured loan in two tranches from unexplained sources, to Harsha’s another
company called MVH Holdings.</div>
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“Sudhir - Dad just called and confirmed that ITC has
approved the funding the operating expenses of KST (Kissan Sabha Trust) for the
next five years. Therefore, for ITC to process the payments, we have to
immediately furnish ITC all OpEx (Operational Expenses) bills for Karkala &
Chikaballarpur for the academic year 2011-12. Request you to needful,” said the
email message sent by Harsha to his partner.</div>
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The email was also marked to Veerappa Moily’s official email
id vmoily@kar.nic.in at 1.09pm on September 21, 2012. The subject of the
message was ‘Capital Budget for Kissan Sabha Trust for Funding’. Harsha didn’t
contradict the facts as reported by The Pioneer and chose to maintain silence
both on his father’s role.</div>
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<b>No favour to corporates in lieu of funds for trust: Moily</b></div>
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Pioneer News Service / <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">New
Delhi</st1:city></st1:place><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>March 21,
2013</div>
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<span style="color: black;">Breaking his silence over The
Pioneer expose on his role in managing funds from ITC to his family-controlled
Kissan Sabha Trust (KST), Petroleum Minister Veerappa Moily on Wednesday
admitted that his Trust approached corporates “for noble purposes”. </span>In a Press release, Moily claimed
that he never extended any favour or help to any corporates for seeking
financial assistance for the trust.</div>
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<span style="color: black;">However, in his two-page
statement, Moily chose to keep mum on the email communications between his son
and partner over the funds from tobacco giant ITC. </span>“Dad just called and confirmed
that ITC has approved the funding for next 5 years…,” his son Harsha stated in
his email to his partner and marked to Veerappa Moily also.</div>
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<span style="color: black;">“The Trust accounts are maintained
in a fair and transparent manner and the same is open for any scrutiny.
However, in order to effectively work towards achieving its noble purpose, the
Trust approaches Corporates who are promoting the social cause for the benefit
of the people from the bottom of the pyramid.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black;">“I would like to categorically
state that there have been absolutely no occasion for me to extend any kind of
favour or help to any corporates for seeking financial assistance for the
Trust,” said Moily in the statement.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black;">Moily said that he was “pained” to
see that his son Harsha’s successful business ventures being condemned, merely
since he “happens to be son of a political person”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black;">“It is also a matter of fact that
Harsha has been successfully working towards social cause on the basis of his
own conscience and without any political ambitions,” said Moily senior.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
J Gopikrishnanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13957669130831957764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15659562854748742.post-32878357903300030812013-02-17T10:19:00.002-08:002013-03-28T07:55:23.102-07:00Italian media hints at Cong link to copter scam<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7XXVyl589om4FZ8gqkpLKOjMwSqGxQOJLdVwk021gkwt3bj9RnhdqedWhcVqXXwT1NNqauW1GoCmAruaFn0buLCtHqrR_Be3Yi2sDQz35AjshJmRZUFGZ-PEgK9m6Zj1Q_xV4mxi04P0/s1600/The+Pioneer+Feb+15%252C+2013+J+Gopikrishnan.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7XXVyl589om4FZ8gqkpLKOjMwSqGxQOJLdVwk021gkwt3bj9RnhdqedWhcVqXXwT1NNqauW1GoCmAruaFn0buLCtHqrR_Be3Yi2sDQz35AjshJmRZUFGZ-PEgK9m6Zj1Q_xV4mxi04P0/s320/The+Pioneer+Feb+15%252C+2013+J+Gopikrishnan.JPG" uea="true" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">J
Gopikrishnan / New Delhi<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> Feb 15, 2013<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 12.1pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-weight: normal; padding: 0cm;">Like the Bofors
scam, the</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0cm;"> </span></span><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-weight: normal; padding: 0cm;">AgustaWestland chopper deal too has telltale signs of a Congress
connection. According to the Italian newspaper ‘Lettera 43’, main commission
agent Christian Michel’s late father was “close to the Congress party”, and the
other middleman, Guido Ralph Haschke, was a Director of Emaar-MGF, a real
estate company owned by relatives of Kanishka Singh, who is associated with a Congress
high-up.</span><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 12.1pt; margin-bottom: 9.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 9.1pt; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Michel was also the agent of
Dassault, which has emerged as the lowest bidder for the Indian Air Force’s 10
billion dollar deal for Rafale fighter jets, supposed to be the world’s biggest
tender. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 12.1pt; margin-bottom: 9.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 9.1pt; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">According to the Italian newspaper
report on November 20, 2012, the “mysterious” British citizen Michel, described
as “Man of Orsi”, had received 60 per cent (around `210 crore) of the kickback
amount of 51 million Euros (around `360 crore) from the Finmeccanica, the
manufactures of AgustaWestland choppers.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 12.1pt; margin-bottom: 9.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 9.1pt; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The investigation report filed in
the Italian court corroborated the findings. It said that the CEO of
Finmeccanica, Giuseppe Orsi, and AgustaWestland CEO Bruno Spagnolini had paid
30 million Euros (`217 crore) to Christian Michel. “Orsi and Spagnolin,
moreover, paid Christian Michel a total amount of about Euros 30 million,
partly destined to support the corrupt activity meant to bag the order and
partly to implement the contract,” the document said.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 12.1pt; margin-bottom: 9.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 9.1pt; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“Born in 1961, Michel is little
known to the public. On the internet, there are no evidences of his business or
his statement. Not a photo or an interview. Yet, Michel is very well introduced
in Defence establishments in New Delhi,” says the Italian newspaper report
titled “Christian Michel, the English middleman of Finmeccanica.”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 12.1pt; margin-bottom: 9.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 9.1pt; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“His contacts are stronger
especially with the Indian Defence, that he has inherited from his father,
Wolfgang Max Michel Richard, a British businessman who was very active in India
between 80s and 90s and was close to the Congress party,” the reports
says. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 12.1pt; margin-bottom: 9.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 9.1pt; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The detailed article on the
business background of the “mysterious” Michel stated that his father had
business interests in Libya, Russia, Iran and Iraq. He was a Labour party’s
fund-raiser before his death in August 2012.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 12.1pt; margin-bottom: 9.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 9.1pt; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Italian newspaper reports as well
as French Court records establish that Michel was an agent of Dassault, which
is set to bag the 10 billion dollar worth deal from Indian Air Force. </span>According to these reports, in
2004, Michel sued Dassault over non-payment of commission for the purchase of
Mirage aircraft for Indian Air Force in 2000. However, Michel lost the case at
Paris Commercial Tribunal on the technical grounds that his agreement with
Dassault had expired.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 12.1pt; margin-bottom: 9.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 9.1pt; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Haschke case is all more bizarre.
The man who confessed to the Italian court on his connections with former Air
Chief SP Tyagi was the Director of Emaar MGF, the firm which bagged the biggest
deal in connection with Commonwealth Games. Haschke is neither builder nor a
real estate entrepreneur, so his connection with Emaar MGF is bound to
raise eyebrows.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 12.1pt; margin-bottom: 9.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 9.1pt; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The controversial real estate
giant is still being probed by the CBI for alleged irregularities in the
construction of the Games Village Complex in Delhi. Late Ved Prakash Gupta, the
founder of Emaar MGF, was the maternal grandfather of Kanishka Singh.
Kanishka’s father late SK Singh was also promoter of another related company
called MGF. The real estate company Emaar MGF was doled out controversial
favour by the Delhi Development Authority after it bagged the contract for
building the CWG Village.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 12.1pt; margin-bottom: 9.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 9.1pt; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">According to the prospectus filed
by Emaar MGF with SEBI, Haschke was Director in September 2009. But in December
2009, he resigned after the Games scandal exploded and Opposition leaders and
former BJP chief Nitin Gadkari alleged that the Emmar MGF had been favoured due
to its link with Kanishka Singh.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 12.1pt; margin-bottom: 9.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 9.1pt; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">1951 born, Haschke is a
Switzerland-based defence middleman, who holds dual passports of his motherland
Italy and that of the USA. Haschke earned 20 million euros (around Rs 150cr) in
the deal, according to chargsheet in the AgustaWestland case. It is learned
that Haschke stopped visiting India after 2011, when his name cropped up in the
Italian probe. Michel, a frequenter to Delhi for the past two decades, also
stopped coming to India after August 2012. He is currently operating from
Dubai.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">[The report was published in ‘The Pioneer’ on Feb 15, 2013]</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<strong><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; font-weight: normal; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;">Feb 16, 2013 – The Pioneer<o:p></o:p></span></strong></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<strong><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;">About
“the family” in the Copter Scam<o:p></o:p></span></strong></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; font-family: inherit; font-size: 10.5pt; font-weight: normal; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;">A mysterious family has emerged
as the major recipient of the payoff in the Rs 3,700 cr AgustaWestland
helicopter deal. In the 64-page chargesheet filed in the Italian court, pages
40 and 41 refer to “the family” which got 28 million Euro (around Rs 200 cr) as
kickback from the Finmeccanica, the Italian manufacturer of the AgustaWestland
(AW) helicopters.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 15pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 11.25pt; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“We
have had extensive discussion on Sunday, the 8th of May, 2011, and it has come
to light that there were two agreements in place with AW which is where the
misunderstanding has arisen. One agreement was for EUR 42mn with the team and
other for EUR 28mn (not less than 5% of the total contract value) with the
family.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 15pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 11.25pt; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“The
team has agreed to reduce their EUR 42mn to EUR 30mn while recognising the need
for the agreement of EUR 29mn with the family to be honoured in full,” said the
document, which is the part of the chargesheet.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 15pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 11.25pt; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">According
to the chargesheet, this document was seized from the bedroom of middleman
Haschke’s mother during a raid in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Switzerland</st1:place></st1:country-region> in April 2012. The
chargesheet also talks about a dispute between another middleman Christian
Michel and Haschke on sharing the commission amount. Michel was forced to
accept around 12 million Euro (around 85 crore) to accommodate “the family.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 15pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 11.25pt; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The
chargesheet has details about the separate payments made to each member of
another family — the Tyagis - amounting to 4,00,000 Euros (around Rs 3.5
crore).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 15pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 11.25pt; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">According
to the Italian investigators, the next tranche of evidences and the second
chargesheet is expected to be filed by March-end.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 15pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 11.25pt; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The
BJP on Friday stepped up pressure on the UPA regime asking it to reveal the
identity of “the family” that received Rs 200 crore kickbacks.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 15pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 11.25pt; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“Who
finalised and signed the VVIP chopper deal?, asked BJP spokesman Prakash
Javadekar. He also demanded the Government to answer. “Who received the
kickbacks?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 15pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 11.25pt; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">He
said the Italian chargesheet talks about payment of 28 million Euros to ‘The
Family’ at least at two points. “The nation wants to know who “The Family’ is?”
Javadekar told reporters.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 15pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 11.25pt; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">In
its Friday edition, The Pioneer quoted French and Italian newspaper reports
claiming that the main commission agent Christian Michel’s late father was
“close to the Congress party”, and the other middleman Guido Ralph Haschke was
a director of Emaar MGF, a real estate company owned by relatives of Kanishka
Singh, who is associated with a Congress high-up.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 15pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 11.25pt; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Meanwhile,
BJP national secretary Kirit Somaiya on Friday wrote to the CBI seeking an
investigation into the role of Kanishka Singh in the helicopter deal. In his
petition to CBI, pointing out that one of the Italian middle man Guido Haschke
was a Director with the real estate company, <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Somalia</st1:place></st1:country-region> said that Emaar MGF owned
by Kanishka’s relatives benefited from the chopper deal.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 15pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 11.25pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Emaar MGF washes hands of
Kanishka, Haschke<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div style="line-height: 15pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; font-size: 10.5pt; font-weight: normal; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;">Real estate major Emaar MGF on Friday claimed it has “no links with
Kanishka Singh or any of his relatives”. The company also said that it was in
no way connected with the business of the Italian middleman Guido Haschke and
that he served only for a short period in its Board of Directors.</span><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 15pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 11.25pt;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Reacting
to a story published in The Pioneer’s Friday edition titled ‘Italian media
hints at Congress links to copter scam’, the company said: “We have no links
with Kanishka Singh or any of his relatives as mentioned in your story. We
would like to state that Kanishka Singh or any of his relatives have no direct
or indirect business interest, including as a shareholder and/or promoter in
Emaar MGF. We are a corporate house with best of corporate governance and all
our shareholding is public and has been filed with various authorities as and
when required as per the statutory requirements.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 15pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 11.25pt;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The
company admitted Haschke served as an independent non-executive director
for a brief period. “Emaar MGF has had no other association with him or any of
his businesses/associates other than this. Haschke was appointed on the Board
of the Company due to the statutory requirement of having a diversified board
with a certain number of independent directors on the board to be a publicly
listed company. Therefore he was appointed as an independent director to
fulfill the requirements of the company’s proposed IPO.” The company also
claimed he had not visited any of their office or even attended any board
meetings.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 15pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 11.25pt;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The
company said Haschke was a registered consultant to the World Bank for Asset
Trading and Debt Restructuring and was appointed by it considering his
experience with international financial.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 15pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 11.25pt;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The
Pioneer stands by its report. It is known that Kanishka Singh’s maternal
grandfather Ved Prakash Gupta was the founder of Emaar MGF. The company’s
current promoter Rajiv Gupta is Kanishka’s uncle. Other promoters, Shravan
Gupta and Siddharth Gupta, are his cousins. We have only reported the facts in
public domain.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
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J Gopikrishnanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13957669130831957764noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15659562854748742.post-66475833006724402272013-01-18T00:38:00.000-08:002013-01-18T00:38:19.744-08:00The good CAG and the bad CAG<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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J Gopikrishnan<br />
[The Pioneer Op Ed article Dec 12, 2012]<br />
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On December 3, Comptroller and Auditor-General Vinod Rai and his colleagues must have had a hearty laugh watching television channels flashing news of Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Manish Tewari’s live Press conference at the All India Congress Committee’s office. Mr Tewari, a frequent CAG baiter, was ‘revealing’ to the media a ‘scam’ related to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. The Minister was talking at length and posing serious questions to Mr Modi on the benefits allegedly given to certain companies, and the role of a foreigner in the gas exploration contract of a State public sector undertaking. He was citing a magazine report which in turn was based on the CAG’s findings.<br />
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Several illegalities in the gas exploration contract had been then found by the CAG, and these were tabled in its report in the Gujarat Assembly on April 2012. Though the magazine gave credit to the CAG in its recent report, Mr Tewari refrained from doing so. He instead praised the magazine for the exposé on Mr Modi’s “corruption”. In fact, even the questions that Mr Tewari asked the Gujarat Chief Minister in the Press conference were a direct lift from the CAG report.<br />
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Ironically, Mr Tewari banked on the CAG’s findings against the Modi Government’s gas exploration contract. Till this Press conference, the Congress and its Ministers since the past two years had been mercilessly attacking CAG and its chief, Mr Rai, for the findings in the 2G Spectrum scam report.<br />
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For these politicians, the CAG report is gospel truth when it suits their politics and when it does not, they violate all norms of decorum to attack the CAG in general and its head in particular.<br />
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This ‘my CAG versus your CAG’ syndrome is the bane of Indian politics. When the CAG report is against them, politicians immediately start raising questions: Can the CAG question policy? Next will be the turn of the spin doctors of the party. The so-called brigade will initiate Goebbelsian methods by questioning the auditing style and ‘unilateral’ move of the CAG, and its method of calculation of presumptive loss. The last, of course, is the contribution of the dirty tricks department. <br />
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We recently witnessed the dirty trick played by the UPA regime when it dug up a retired auditor to trash the very report which he had prepared. Given the downgrading of Indian politics and the magnitude of slush money involved in the scams unearthed by the CAG, we may see more retired Government personnel coming out in the future. The theatrics of retired auditor RP Singh are hidden from no one. He was present at the Press conference when the CAG report on 2G Spectrum scam was unveiled two years ago, proudly explaining the nitty-gritty of the report on the massive scam. He is the same person who presented the report before the parliamentarians of the Public Accounts Committee, after taking oath. His numerous U-turns now have thoroughly undermined his credibility.<br />
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The CAG’s critics ignore the powers, the duties and the responsibilities of this premier constitutional body of the country. CAG auditors do not arrive at their conclusions unilaterally. There are several pre-audit and post-audit conferences and interactions between Ministries and Government Departments concerned and the CAG team. Several questions need to be addressed and answered satisfactorily before preparing the draft report itself. The CAG’s office scrupulously seeks explanations more than once from the persons concerned, before indicting them. This prestigious body needs nobody’s consent in deciding on what should be audited. It is simply its prerogative to decide on what to audit, when to audit and how to audit. Those powers are derived from the Constitution. It is, therefore, highly amusing to read newspaper headlines of this kind: “Reliance agrees for auditing”. <br />
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The 2G scam report is unique. It is the very first report where the CAG found the role of corporates or bribe-givers in influencing policy-makers while dealing with the Government and in the allotment of natural resources. The CAG’s subsequent reports on Coalgate, Delhi Airport and mega power projects indicted and exposed the ‘who’s who’ of India’s corporate sector.<br />
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Apart from the politicians and the Government, the CAG has thus added corporates to its list of opponents. With the involvement of the corporate sector in many shady deals, CAG-bashing has gained added impetus of late.<br />
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In normal practice, a CAG report broadly has three parts. First, the report will speak about the policy and norms in practice and the history of that policy. Second, the report will expose the violations and the illegalities and, if needed, indict the persons concerned. Finally, in its suggestions/observations, the CAG may highlight the possible loss or presumptive loss to the public exchequer due to the illegalities. The presumptive loss is derived through certain statistical measures and it is the CAG’s prerogative to do so.<br />
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For more than five years, Parliament has not debated any CAG report. Normally, the CAG report tabled in Parliament goes to the Public Accounts Committee for a review. Some non-important CAG reports may not go to the PAC and it is the PAC’s prerogative to take a decision on this. The CAG report then returns to Parliament with the PAC’s recommendations for a debate. But the Congress has used its majority to scuttle the PAC report on the 2G Spectrum scam with the help of the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party. This is because the PAC has questioned the role of Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh himself in the scam, while the CAG had limited its indictment to only former Union Minister for Telecommunications A Raja. Using political leverage to influence probes and swing deals portents ill for democracy and this country.<br />
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The CAG is considered a friend, philosopher and guide of the PAC. The CAG and its officials concerned with the report are part and parcel of PAC meetings. Despite knowledge of these conventions and practices, a brouhaha on the relations between the two bodies is created frequently.<br />
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It is the Government’s moral duty to hold an immediate debate on the important CAG reports, as soon as these reports are tabled. It is also the Opposition’s moral obligation to demand a debate. But today, because of the involvement of influential people in and outside the Government, none of the people’s representatives in Parliament wants debates. Instead of a structured debate on the CAG report in Parliament and the State Assemblies, political parties prefer mudslinging. Structured debates will force the Government at the Centre to respond and be accountable. Also, the bribe-givers from the corporate sector will be exposed.<br />
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Incidentally, what were the Congress MLAs in Gujarat doing when the CAG placed the report in April 2012, on the irregularities in gas exploration project? What was the PAC in Gujarat headed by a Congress MLA doing on this CAG report all these months?<br />
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J Gopikrishnanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13957669130831957764noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15659562854748742.post-80035525889011647122012-11-10T00:57:00.000-08:002012-11-11T00:37:11.655-08:00‘Fearless’ CBI officer Pulsania no more<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Pioneer News Service / New Delhi<br />
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Nov 9, 2012<br />
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The Supreme Court on Thursday mourned the death of CBI DIG Suresh Kumar Palsania, the ace investigator in the 2G spectrum scam. Palsania, 44, was laid to rest at his native village at Jaswantpura in Jaipur this afternoon.<br />
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The bench of Justices GS Singhvi and KS Radhakrishnan reminisced the young, dynamic and fearless officer’s contribution, responsible for netting big fishes like former Telecom Minister A Raja and DMK MP Kanimozhi. “Just yesterday we mentioned his name. It is so sad he was only 44. What else we can do than to console ourselves to what God demands?” said the bench.<br />
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A 1996-batch Odisha cadre IPS officer, Palsania battled leukemia till he breathed his last at a private hospital in South Delhi , 20 days after the disease was detected. He is survived by his wife and a 11-year-old son. “We are all shocked and devastated by his sudden demise. He was one of the most outstanding officers of CBI. His ability, competence and complete understanding of the subject were absolutely brilliant. His is a great loss not only to CBI but the whole IPS community,” said CBI Director AP Singh.<br />
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Recipient of this year’s Police Medal for meritorious service, Palsania served in Policy Division and Anti-Corruption Branch where he handled major corruption cases like 2G and CWG scam. Palsania had walked out of a meeting with a senior government law officer who wanted to discuss the strategy on 2G case with him along with Raja’s lawyer.<br />
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J Gopikrishnanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13957669130831957764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15659562854748742.post-84075127966509743592012-09-29T09:53:00.000-07:002013-01-18T00:33:16.754-08:00Land grabbing of Chidambarams<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">[The series published in "The Pioneer" from Sept 7, 10 & 11 - 2012 on land grabbing by Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram's family and his blatant lies exposing discrepancies in several mandatory affidavits to Election Commission in 2004 & 2009 and to PM]</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Sept 7, 2012</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">Chidambaram hid wife's land record</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">J Gopikrishnan<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">New Delhi<br /><br />The statement of annual Assets and Liabilities filed by Finance MinisterP Chidambaram to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh does not give details of the controversial land off Chennai seashore held by his wife Nalini Chidambaram.<br /><br />In his statement of Assets and Liabilities as of March 31, 2012, which was uploaded on Tuesday on the PMO website, Chidambaram has not mentioned the quantum of land his wife Nalini owns in Chennai’s prime location off the seashore along the East Coast Road .<br /><br />The Chennai Police is probing allegations of land grabbing by Nalini and son Karti after several fishermen recently filed a complaint to CM J Jayalalithaa.<br /><br />Till last year in his annual Assets and Liabilities statement, Chidambaram declared that the land held by his wife was agricultural land, but he did not disclose the details of the area under possession. The statement filed by Chidambaram to PMO, last year, says this land in Muttukad Village in East Coast Road is valued just Rs27 lakh.<br /><br />The land records of Nalini’s holdings are suspect. According to the records with the Muttukad Village registry, Nalini holds five acres from 1991, but curiously the records do not say how she got the land; the columns to notify the previous owner or seller are blank.<br /><br />In the thick of controversy over land grabbing charges faced by his wife and son, Chidambaram has changed the status of this controversial land in the latest statement to the PMO. This time he has not claimed this was agricultural land. While there is no mention of the quantum of land in his statement, he has devalued the price of land to Rs25 lakh. The market value of the land in this locality is currently Rs10 crore per acre.<br /><br />Moreover, in March 2009 during DMK regime, M/s Kaiser Surya Samudra Resorts Pvt Ltd, a company controlled by Karti, got environment clearance for constructing a luxury hotel with 100 rooms on 12 acres, adjacent to Nalini’s properties. But the RoC document of the company is silent about these land holdings. Fishermen complain that this 12 acre land was also grabbed and probe by Chennai Police is still pending.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Sept 7, 2012</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">PC family sinks in land bog</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Hundreds of fishermen who have levelled serious land grab charges against Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram’s family, have accused them of illegally capturing major portions of Uppankali, a saltwater lake measuring 98 acres, and a three-kilometre stretch of seafront along the Bay of Bengal coastline near Chennai.<br /><br />“This is in addition to the 12-acre land annexed by them after the 2004 tsunami devastation,” PS Sanjeevi, 55, a fisherman of Karikattukuppam village, said.<br /><br />Jaya Palayan, president, South Indian Federation of Fishermen Societies (SIFFS), told The Pioneer that according to the land documents under his possession, the Chidambarams have grabbed land coming under survey numbers 113 and 114. “The three-kilometre long and 200-metre wide stretch of land between the lake and ocean has been grabbed by them,”said Palayan.<br /><br />Fishing, the only livelihood of the entire village with a population of 1,500, has been upset because of the attempts by the Chidambarams to grab the lake and the Government land, they claimed.<br /><br />“Chidambaram’s family has built a compound wall fortifying the grabbed land, the lake and the entire beach,” said GV Murugan, 41, another fisherman from the village. Both Murugan and Sanjeevi said that because of the compound wall, the entire fishing community has lost access to the sea.<br /><br />“We are forced to take a detour of three kilometres to reach the beach from where we set out for fishing. We have to keep our boats, nets, heavy machinery and catamarans on a small stretch of land, far away from our dwelling places. The Chidambarams are pressurising us to remove the equipment from that land. They claim the ownership of that stretch of land too. The Chidambarams are planning to build a seaside resort with boating facilities,” said Vinayakam, another fisherman.<br /><br />The group of fishermen led this reporter to the stretch of land allegedly grabbed by Nalini (wife of P Chidambaram) and Karti P Chidambaram (their only son). Murugan, who speaks English and keeps track of all land dealings in the village, said, “Nalini Chidambaram had reportedly purchased five acres of land in Karikattukuppam Village in 1991. After the 2004 tsunami, all of us were relocated to a distance of three kilometres from the shoreline. We were told to stay a safe distance away from the shore to safeguard against future tsunami attacks.”<br /><br />“But one morning we found that the land where we were staying till tsunami struck has been occupied by the family of Chidambaram. They also annexed a portion of the lake, which was our only source of livelihood during lean season. Now, we have been asked to keep off the lake because they are going to build a resort. Efforts are on to fill the lake with sand and mud,” claimed Murugan.<br /><br />“The Chidambaram family could be the only private individuals in the country owning a lake,” the fishermen added.<br /><br />Mangalam, a fisherwoman, said a part of the lake has been filled with mud and sand. She said tsunami affected them for a day only, but the land grab has destroyed their lives forever.<br /><br />Though the Finance Minister’s family constructed a three-kilometre long wall fortifying the lake and the seashore, the fishermen demolished a part of the wall. “We have got a stay order from the Madras High Court restraining the Chidambarams from building the wall,” said Sanjeevi.<br /><br />The fishermen said the lake was three kilometres in length and 200 metres wide. “The entire land grabbed by the Chidambarams is a barren stretch where nothing grows other than Palmyra trees. Nothing could be cultivated there,” said Sanjeevi, who also charged that the Finance Minister in an affidavit to the Prime Minister had described the land as agriculture land.<br /><br />All the fishermen in the village were born in Karikattukuppam itself. We know each other well and hence, land grabbing of any kind will be immediately detected by us, they said. “Last week, we had a meeting with Nalini Chidambaram at their Chennai residence. She asked us to vacate the land at the earliest and look for other jobs,” Murugan alleged.<br /><br />Blatant violation of Coastal Regulation Act could be seen at the beach side of the lake where new houses have been built by those with the right kind of political patronage. “As per rules, nobody can build houses in the 100-metre stretch of land on either side of the lake. But the powers that be have turned a blind eye towards this violation,” added Sanjeevi.<br /><br />Casual enquiries with local real estate dealers revealed that an acre of land in the Karikattukuppam Village costs Rs10 crore and above.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Sept 7, 2012</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">No land grabbing, says family counsel</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Pioneer News Service<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Chennai<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">R R Arun Natarajan, counsel for the family of P Chidambaram, denied all charges of land grabbing levelled against the latter’s family by a section of the fisherfolk. "The land at Karikkattukuppam near Muttukadu was purchased by Nalini Chidambaram and Karti P Chidambaram in 1992. They have the title deeds, pattas and all other documents which confirm the fact that they are the legal owners of the land. They are using the land uninterruptedly since then,” Natarajan told The Pioneer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">He said the charges are baseless and would not stand scrutiny in a court of law. Arun Natarajan was contacted by this newspaper as per the directive of Karti Chidambaram.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">He said the fishermen were using the plot of land owned by the Chidambarams for open defecation since the houses provided to them by the State Government post-tsunami did not have toilets or drainage facilities. “My clients were forced to build the compound wall to keep the plot of land neat and clean. They have not trespassed into any Government or poramboke land,” said Natarajan.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">According to Natarajan, the local Government did not take any action when his clients complained about trespassing by the fishermen for open defecation in the land. “It is true that they destroyed a portion of the compound wall built by my clients. We have filed a writ petition in the Madras HC and a complaint in the nearby Kanathur police station against these people. Let us see what is in store,” said Natarajan. But the question how a three kilometre long compound wall was constructed between the lake and the sea remains unanswered.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">SHADY DEALS</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">#</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> Now facing charges of land grab, Nalini Chidambaram had appeared for Murugan, a local fisherman in 2005 asking the Madras High Court to restrain a group of real estate brokers from constructing the same compound wall “She appeared for me in the Public Interest Litigation and argued that the compound wall was being built on the promboke land (free/public land owned by state). Then she made a volte-face and joined hands with the real estate cartel operating here,” said Murugan<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">#</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> Pointing this out, Jaya Palayan, President, South Indian Fishermen Societies, said that the Court ruled in their favour. But within weeks, Nalini joined the same people who were behind the construction of the wall, said Palayan.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Sept 10, 2012 </span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram doesn’t seem above board in the controversy over the alleged capturing of land by his family on Chennai’s East Coast Road . In the mandatory affidavits on assets and liabilities to the Prime Minister and the Election Commission of India, Chidambaram has declared sharply contrasting details of the land “owned” by his wife Nalini.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">In his affidavit to the Election Commission in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, when he contested the Sivaganga seat, Chidambaram declared that his wife has a total of 3.72 acres in Muttukad and Kannathur villages. The total value of the two properties was quoted as 3.49 crore by Chidambaram. He said Nalini has 2.88 acres of land worth 2.44 crore in survey number 98/7 in Muttukad village, and 0.84 acres, valued at 1.05 crore, in survey number 103/1&2 in the same sea shore stretch in adjacent Kannathur village. Chidambaram stated both the properties as agricultural land. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">However, in affidavit of statement on assets and liabilities to Prime M i n i s t e r M a n m o h a n S i n g h , Chidambaram declared the value of the two prime properties to be just 27 lakh — which means a whopping 3.22 crore depreciation in two years. He continued to claim the agricultural land status, but to the PM he did not bother to provide any specifics of his wife’s controversial properties including survey numbers and land area. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">As if the two starkly contrasting details weren’t enough, in the current assets and liabilities statement (as on March 31, 2012) to the Prime Minister, which was uploaded a few days back on the PMO website, Chidambaram went a step further undervaluing his wife’s property by 2 lakh. The property’s value, which he had quoted as 27 lakh in 2009, has now been shown to be worth 25 lakh. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Interestingly, this time around he didn’t claim agricultural status of the two properties but continued not to provide the area and survey numbers of the land in Nalini’s possession. As things stand, the current market price of land on the East Coast Road is around 10 crore per acre. According to the land registry records of Muttukad Panchayat, the details of which are with The Pioneer, around 10 acres of land is with Nalini under different sub-clauses of survey number 98. Going by the market value, the around 10-acre property owned by Nalini is worth 100 crore. Even if one were to go strictly by the land details stated by Chidambaram in his affidavits, Nalini's 3.72-acre property is worth over 30 crore as per the current market rate and not 3.49 crore. Also, neither 27 lakh nor 25 lakh! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Apart from the discrepancies in the area of land that the Chidambarams own and the massive undervaluation, mysteriously, the mandatory columns for providing the details of previous landowners have been left blank. Chidambaram’s family claims these prime properties have been in their possession since 1991. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">But local fishermen allege this is a classic land grab case by the high and the mighty. According to the fishermen, the Chidambarams also hold an adjacent lake and are planning to construct a luxury hotel in the locality. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">In 2009, during the DMK regime, a company called Kaiser Surya Samudra — controlled by Chidambaram’s son Karti’s company Ausbridge Holdings — got environmental clearance for constructing a 100-room luxury hotel in the same locality. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Though RoC documents of the company are silent about the land details, the State Government’s clearance certificate says the project is coming up on 12 acres in the same controversial locality. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Both Nalini and Karti are now facing allegations of land grabbing in the sea shore areas of Muttukad and Kannathur village in Chennai’s plush East Coast Road . The State Government has ordered a probe after hundreds of fishermen of the area alleged that the Chidambarams have captured a three-kilometre long seafront. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Sept 11, 2012 </span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">PC lands in more land trouble</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">J Gopikrishnan / Kumar Chellappan<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">More skeletons have tumbled out of Finance Minister P Chidambaram’s closet. This time it is about the stark discrepancies in the land holding declared in the name of his wife in the affidavits filed before the Election Commission of India in 2004 and 2009.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">In 2004 election affidavit, PC declared his wife Nalini held only 1.2 acres on Chennai’s seafront. But in the 2009 election affidavit under the same survey numbers, he declared a holding of 3.72 acres. At the same time, the latest land records in the panchayat register mention Nalini has around 10 acres in the locality since 1991.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Not only both affidavits differ with each other they also differ with his statements on assets and liabilities filed to the Prime Minister in 2011 and 2012 as well as land records register of the concerned panchayat.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">In his affidavit filed before Election Commission for the 2004 Lok Sabha election, Chidambaram declared his wife Nalini had a total of 1.2 acres under different survey numbers of the locality and declared Rs 95 lakh as the value of the properties.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">In his affidavit, Chidambaram said, Nalini has 0.2 acres land property worth Rs 60 lakh under survey number 103/1&2 in Kanathur Village . He said that his wife also has 1 acre land worth Rs 35 lakh under survey number 98/7 in the adjoining Muttukadu Village.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">But in the 2009 elections, Chidambaram declared his wife has a total of 3.72 acres under the same survey numbers. In his affidavit for the 2009 controversial Sivaganga Lok Sabha polls, Chidambaram said Nalini owned 0.84 acres in Kanathur Village under survey numbers 103/1&2 (same survey numbers mentioned in the 2004 affidavit) and valued the property for Rs 1.05 crore.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">He said his wife also has 2.88 acres worth Rs 2.44 crore under survey number 98/7 (same survey number in 2004) in Muttukadu Village . The gross value of both lands was shown as Rs 3.49 crores. In his election affidavits and in his 2011 affidavit to PM on his assets and liabilities, Chidambaram showed as agriculture land which Nalini held near the seashore.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">But in 2012, in his statement to the Prime Minister, he did not claim agriculture status to the same land. Chidambaram’s contrasting declarations on his wife’s properties to the Election Commission in 2004 and 2009 does not tally with the land records register of Muttukadu Panchayat.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The land register details available with The Pioneer shows that in the seafront area from 1991 onwards, Nalini had several tracts of land totalling around 10 acres. The land records have no mention of previous owners in most of the transactions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The question arises as to why Chidambaram did not mention in his election affidavits the details of the 10 acres held by his wife from 1991 onward as shown by the land records.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The Pioneer had already reported that in his statement to PM in 2011, Chidambaram undervalued the price of Nalini’s holdings in the seafront area to just Rs 27 lakh, without giving any specifics of the land including area wise details. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">In his latest filing to Prime Minister (as on March 31, 2012), while he did not claim agricultural status to the land, he further devalued it to Rs 25 lakh. It is a known that the current market price of the land is around Rs 10 crore per acre in Chennai’s East Coast Road . Like his earlier declaration to PM, the Finance Minister also did not give specifics of the land “owned” by his wife, who is facing allegations of land grabbing by fishermen community.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The fisher folk of the locality allege Chidambaram’s family members had encroached three kilometre stretch of the seafront area including a salt lake in the East Coast Road for constructing a luxury hotel. The State Government ordered a probe in this regard against Chidambaram’s wife Nalini and son Karti after fishermen recently lodged a complaint to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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J Gopikrishnanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13957669130831957764noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15659562854748742.post-83400332753818062602012-06-04T11:27:00.000-07:002013-02-17T10:30:03.134-08:00Aircel-Maxis deal and Chidambarams<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">[These series of articles on Chidambarams link in Aircel-Maxis deal appeared in 'The Pioneer' on April-May 2012]</span></div>
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;">Swamy claims PC used clout to benefit son</span></strong><br />
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April 27, 2012 <br />
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Janata Party president and 2G scam crusader Subramanian Swamy has alleged that Home Minister P Chidambaram used his office as Finance Minister in 2006 to help his son Karti get a portion of the booty in the Rs 4,000 crore Aircel-Maxis deal. Swamy has asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to dismiss Chidambaram from the Union Cabinet and direct CBI to bring the father-son duo under the ambit of on-going probe in the Aircel-Maxis deal.<br />
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Addressing a Press conference on Thursday, Swamy released documents of Registrar of Company (RoC) pertaining to “Karti-controlled companies”, and alleged that Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) under Chidambaram cleared the Rs 4,000 crore Aircel-Maxis deal only after his son got “five per cent shares in C Sivasankaran’s Aircel Televenutre Ltd”.<br />
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Meanwhile, according to PTI, Karti Chidambaram has dismissed Swamy’s charges. “There is no no truth. None of the companies in which Karti has any interest holds any equity in nor has given any loan to any telecom company,” sources close to Karti said.<br />
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Producing a set of documents, Swamy claimed that Karti has 94 per cent shares in a company called Ausbridge Holdings Investments Pvt Ltd, which has majority stakes in two other companies, namely Advantage Strategic Consulting Pvt Ltd and Kaiser Surya Samudra Resorts Pvt Ltd.<br />
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Swamy said RoC documents of Advantage Strategic Consulting Pvt Ltd, showed that before March 31, 2006, it had transferred Rs 26,00,444 to Siva’s Aircel Televentures Ltd as loans and advances. “This payment was obviously made to acquire shares of Aircel Televentures, which controlled the Aircel Ltd and Aircel Cellular Ltd,” he said.<br />
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What is bizarre is the fact the loan amounted to Rs 26,00,444 where as in normal cases such transaction should have been a round figure.<br />
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After Maxis acquired majority stakes in Aircel by paying Rs 4,000 crore to the holding company Aircel Televentures, the latter changed its name to Siva Ventures Ltd. Swamy said that for its five per cent shares, Karti’s company must have pocketed Rs 200 crore from this Malaysian booty.<br />
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“Chidambaram approved the FIPB clearance of Aircel-Maxis deal in May 2006 after his son got around five per cent shares in Siva’s company. The accounts of Siva Ventures showed that after the transfer of money from Maxis, the company gave a loan of Rs 1,300 crore to certain associate companies without specifying their names. This is a mystery. Where did such huge amount go?”<br />
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In a letter to the Prime Minister seeking dismissal of Chidambaram, Swamy said that CBI’s ongoing probe in the Aircel-Maxis deal is limited only to Maran brothers. “During March first week this year, at a Press conference in Chennai, I announced the names and details of several companies where Karti P Chidambaram is a director. Within few days on March 9, 2012, Karti resigned from the Directorship of one company called Ausbridge Holding and Investments Pvt Ltd, where he had more than 94% shares.<br />
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“After I checked the accounts of this company, I found that his company has majority shares in two companies, namely : Advantage Strategic Consulting Pvt Ltd and Kaiser Surya Samudra Resorts Pvt Ltd. The accounts of these companies were totally manipulated and some Balance Sheets were filed even after five year,” wrote Swamy to Prime Minister in his three-page letter detailing the “doubtful financial transactions of list of Karti controlled companies and their dubious operations.”<br />
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“It is not possible for the CBI officers who mainly belong to IPS cadre to probe into Home Minister and his son’s role, even though they have solid proof. In the ongoing probe on the Aircel-Maxis deal, where CBI had registered FIR, the role of P Chidambaram and his son Karti should also be through probe. Such kind of impartial probe is not possible for CBI Officials, when P Chidambaram is Home Minister, who controls their cadre-IPS,” said Swamy.<br />
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The 2G crusader announced that he would soon approach courts, demanding to probe Chidambaram and son. “My case is reserved for orders on making him as co-accused along with A Raja in Supreme Court. Now I have produced Chidambaram’s son’s financial transactions during the Aircel-Maxis deal period. If CBI can fix Karunanidhi’s daughter for having financial transactions with Balwa related company, the same rule will apply to Chidambaram’s son also. CBI is aware of Karti’s link in the Aircel-Maxis deal. That is why they are going slow in Maran case,” said Swamy.<br />
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Swamy also produced the RBI’s monthly report for the month of September 2011 about outward FDI flow. According to this report, Advantage Strategic Consulting Pvt Ltd has a wholly owned subsidiary in Singapore, named as Advantage Strategic Consulting Singapore Pte Ltd. The report shows a transaction of 1.8625 Million US dollar from Indian parent company to Singapore based subsidy. “This is only a transaction of just a month. I had sought RBI for the entire transaction from 2006. These huge transactions are not shown in the RoC documents of Indian company,” he said.<br />
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Swamy also produced documents of another “Karti controlled company” Kaiser Surya Samudra, which owns 4.62 hectares near the Mahabalipuram beach, near Chennai. “This transaction took place during Kanimozhi’s financial transaction with Balwa during 2008-2009. This company got approval from Karunanidhi government in lighting speed in the sensitive beach resort to construct 100 luxurious room,” alleged Swamy.<br />
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“But the RoC documents are silent on the source funds of this Rs.100 crore worth project. It shows only a pittance of Rs.1.5 lakh as loan from Home Minister’s wife Nalini Chidambaram,” added Swamy, urging Tamil Nadu Chief Minister to order a probe on the huge land purchase in the sensitive beach area.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><strong>Ministry babus roped in for propaganda</strong></span><br />
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April 28, 2012 <br />
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While Home Minister P Chidambaram continued his stony silence on Friday over Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy’s allegations against him and his son Karti on Aircel-Maxis deal, the Home Ministry’s Media Wing distributed a Press release on behalf of a Chartered Accountant representing a company allegedly controlled by Karti. Swamy has alleged that this company benefitted from the deal. <br />
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Interestingly, the handout of the Chartered Accountant distributed from the Home Ministry’s North Block office also included a PTI report on the CA’s version on Swamy’s allegations and plans to file a defamation case.<br />
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The journalists were asked to collect CA’s version from the MHA media wing’s office. The officials who called the reporters refused to fax or email the handout. Obviously, this was a clever ploy to avoid any proof of Home Ministry’s involvement in putting out Karti’s defence.<br />
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The Press note was signed by R Balachandran, Chartered Accountant of Advantage Strategic Consulting Private Ltd. This company was controlled by another company called Ausbridge Holdings and Investments Private Limited, where Karti has more than 94 per cent shares. Swamy alleged that the Advantage Strategic Consulting Pvt Ltd “got five per cent stakes in C Sivasankaran’s company to share the booty of Rs 4,000 crores from sell of Aircel.” <br />
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“My client M/s. Advantage Strategic Consulting Private Limited had taken notice of the press meet held by Mr Subramanian Swamy, on April 26, 2012. The company states that they have placed the matter in the hands of their lawyers to take appropriate legal action immediately,” said R Balachandan, the Chartered Accountant. The questions is why Home Ministry officials were forced to distribute the press note of a private person, while the Government of India rules of conduct of civil servants strictly prohibit such activities.<br />
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Meanwhile, ridiculing the “defamation notice threat”, Swamy, said that he would welcome it as opportunity cross-examine Karti in the court of law. Swamy also said that he would soon reveal more documents on “Nalini Chidambaram (Home Minister’s wife) and Karti link in Aircel-Maxis deal”.<br />
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“The threat of a defamation case issued by company officials on behalf of Mr Karti Chidambaram with regard to my allegation of his involvement in the 2G Spectrum Scam is laughable. I would welcome an opportunity to cross-examine Karti in the court of law which will save me the trouble of approaching the Special 2G Spectrum court for filing a fresh private complaint.<br />
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“In the meantime I demand that the mother and son duo of Mrs Nalini Chidambaram and Karti to explain the number of trips they have made to Malaysia during 2005-2007, and whether the CEO or any other official of Maxis received them and put them in hotels,” said Swamy in statement issued here.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><strong>Govt’s defence of Chidambaram rings hollow</strong></span><br />
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May 8, 2012 <br />
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The Government’s claim that as Finance Minister, P Chidambaram did not delay Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approval to the Rs 4,000 crore Aircel-Maxis deal is far from the truth. While the actual clearance was given on October 3, 2006, the Government on April 28 claimed that FIPB cleared the Maxis acquisition of Aircel on March 7, 2006 itself. <br />
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The Government’s latest defence of the Home Minister came in response to Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy’s allegations that under Chidambaram as Finance Minister in 2006, the FIPB sat on the Aircel-Maxis deal for several months.<br />
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Dismissing the allegations as “totally baseless”, the Ministry of Finance on April 28 said the FIPB recommended the proposal to acquire Aircel in the meeting held on March 7, 2006 and a formal letter of approval by the Ministry was issued on March 20, 2006.<br />
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“From the fact stated above, it will abundantly clear that there was no delay whatsoever. It is unfortunate that the baseless allegations should be made without verifying facts,” said the Ministry of Finance on April 28 giving the entire timeline of approval.<br />
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However, inquiry by The Pioneer revealed that it was the Government, which either did not verify the facts or deliberately concealed it to save Chidambaram.<br />
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The documents show that the FIPB recommended the deal only on October 3, 2006 in its meeting chaired by Chidambaram and the related Press release was issued only on October 17, 2006.<br />
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The documents available with The Pioneer and Press releases on the FIPB approvals, still available on the website of Press Information Bureau, have put the Government in a spot. No one from the Finance Ministry has come forward to respond to clarifications sought by The Pioneer through an email questionnaire sent five days ago to the Joint Secretary of Infrastructure of Investment division, who heads the FIPB.<br />
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A senior official of the FIPB said: “Please don’t drag us into this politically sensitive issue.”<br />
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Coming out with a fresh expose into the deal where former Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran’s role is under CBI probe, Swamy alleged that a company controlled by Chidambaram’s son Karti got five per cent stake in Sivasankaran’s Aircel Televentures to corner part of Rs 4,000 crore that the Maxis paid for 74 per cent stake in Aircel.<br />
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It was alleged that Chidambaram withheld the FIPB clearance to the deal till his son got the five per cent shares in Siva’s company.<br />
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Reacting to the allegations, the Finance Ministry issued a detailed Press release titled — “Government denies allegations.”<br />
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“Allegations have been made that the proposal of M/s Global Communication Services Holdings Ltd, Mauritius (a wholly owned subsidiary of M/s Maxis Communications Berhad) to acquire 73.99 per cent equity in M/s Aircel Ltd was delayed by the then Finance Minister in order to benefit certain persons.<br />
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“On 7.3.2006, the matter was placed before the meeting of the FIPB. DoT conveyed its support to the proposal at the meeting. FIPB recommended the proposal for approval on 7.3.2006 and file was moved by Deputy Secretary on 10.3.2006. The minutes of the FIPB meeting were placed before the then Finance Minister on 13.3.2006 and he approved the same. The formal letter of approval was issued by the Ministry of Finance on 20.3.2006. From the facts stated above, it will be abundantly clear that there was no delay whatsoever. It is unfortunate that baseless allegations should be made without verifying the facts,” claimed the Government Press release. According to this Press release, the FIPB, under Chidambaram, approved the proposal in just two-and-a-half months.<br />
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But The Pioneer’s investigation shows that no such proposal was tabled in the March 7, 2006 meeting of the FIPB. A Press release dated March 14, 2006 still on the PIB website, has no mention of the Aircel-Maxis deal.<br />
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The vital information that Government concealed is that at the March 7, 2006 meeting of the FIPB, clearances were given to another company with a similar name. The company was BT Global Communication (Mauritius) Ltd.<br />
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It was only on October 3, 2006 that the FIPB meeting, chaired by Chidambaram, cleared the deal. Item number 15 and 16 of the October 17, 2006 Press release available at the PIB website states about the FIPB clearance to the Maxis investment in Sivasankaran’s companies Aircel and Dishnet.<br />
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The FIPB also did not show the amount of foreign investment and kept the concerned column blank. Normally, all FIPB clearances would specify the value of foreign investment.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><strong>Govt trapped in own web of deceit</strong></span><br />
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May 9, 2012 <br />
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The UPA Government finds itself caught in a web of deception in its bid to defend Home Minister P Chidambaram’s role in the Aircel-Maxis deal. On Tuesday, reacting to The Pioneer report on the gross discrepancies on the FIPB approval timing and delay of Aircel-Maxis deal, the Government insisted that the first approval was given on March 7, 2006 and second one for downstream investment on October 3, 2006. Maxis’ subsidiary of Mauritius-based Global Communication Services Holding Ltd invested in Aircel, as claimed by the Government.<br />
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However, records nail the Government lie. The facts remain that on March 7, 2006, the Government gave approval to two companies — from USA and Singapore — to raise their stake in Aircel/Global Communication Services Holding Ltd, both Indian firms.<br />
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This is established by a PIB Press release dated March 14, 2006 which states that under ‘Economic Affairs’ category (item no : 7 of the PIB Press release on FIPB approvals), M/s Century Telephone Enterprise Inc of USA and M/s Rediongton Pte Ltd were given sanction to enhance their foreign equity of 49 per cent in Aircel/Global Communication Services Holding Ltd to 74%. The value of foreign investment was shown as only Rs 180 crore. Curiously, in this case, Global Communication Services Holding Ltd is shown as an Indian investor along with Aircel.<br />
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The PIB release dated March 14, 2006 has no mention of Global Communication Services Holding Ltd acquiring any stake in Aircel. The Pioneer on Tuesday reported that the FIPB approval for the acquisition of Aircel by Global Communication Services Holding Ltd was given only on October 3, 2006.<br />
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While insisting that the first FIBP clearance was given to deal on March 7, Government’s Tuesday release claimed that on October 3, FIPB gave subsequent approval for downstream investment by Global Communication Services Holding Ltd in Aircel.<br />
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But, throughout the controversy, the Government has not come out with any documents to show that the FIPB under Chidambaram on March 7 gave any clearance to Global Communication Services Holdings Ltd to make any investment in Aircel. Unless the Government comes out with clear evidence to establish this, Chidambaram will find it difficult to deny allegations levelled by the Opposition that he purposefully delayed the clearance to benefit his son Karti.<br />
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Terming The Pioneer report on Tuesday as “factually incorrect and totally baseless” the Government on behalf of Ministry of Finance reiterated that FIPB chaired by Chidambaram as Finance Minister approved the deal on March 7, 2006. “Government had earlier issued a Press release on April 28, 2012 regarding the foreign investment made by M/s Global Communication Services Holdings Ltd, Mauritius to acquire 73.99 per cent equity in M/s Aircel Ltd. The contents of that statement are correct and are reiterated,” said the Press release titled “Clarification on AIRCEL issue”.<br />
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The Government must also clarify on the companies — Century Telephone Enterprise from USA and Rediongton Pte Ltd. According to the CBI FIR, Maxis invested around Rs 4,000 crore in Aircel by May 2006. Then how did FIPB arrive at foreign investment figure of just Rs 180 crore for increased 25 per cent shares?<br />
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Meanwhile, on the same day, March 7, 2006, FIPB under “Telecommunication” category (item No: 19) approved foreign investment of similar named company called BT Global Communication (Mauritius) Ltd. This company got approval to acquire 74 per cent in an unnamed Delhi-based company’s landline telephone operations for around Rs 9 crore.<br />
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It is also a mystery how in October 3, 2006, Global Communication Services Holdings Ltd, which was shown as an Indian entity on March 7, became a foreign investor in Aircel and Dishnet on October 3.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><strong>Maxis’ stake declaration demolishes PC defence</strong></span><br />
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May 15, 2012 <br />
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For days Home Minister P Chidambaram has pleaded innocence in the Aircel-Maxis deal, but new facts show that the acquisition of Aircel by the Maxis in 2006 was illegal. The deal, which took place when Chidambaram was the Finance Minister, violates Indian laws. While domestic laws place a cap of 74 per cent on foreign investment in telecom sector, in the Aircel-Maxis deal, the latter acquired nearly 100 per cent stake in three tranches.<br />
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Equally shocking is the fact that a probe instituted by the Finance Minister and Department of Telecom in early 2007 to look into this violation, has reached nowhere. The Government has so far not initiated any action against Maxis.<br />
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On March 15, 2006, Maxis declared to the Malaysian Stock Exchange that it proposed to acquire 99.714 per cent in Aircel. This was before the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) — under Chidambaram — cleared the so-called final acquisition on October 3, 2006.<br />
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“Aircel Transactions comprising:<br />
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(I) Proposed acquisition by Global Communication Services Holdings Ltd (GCSHL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Maxis, and Deccan Digital Networks Private Limited (JVC), a proposed joint venture company of Maxis in the Republic of India, of 94,864,865 and 85,135,135 equity shares of 10 Indian Rupees each in Aircel Limited (Aircel), a company incorporated in the Republic of India (“Aircel Shares”), representing 39% and 35% respectively, of the enlarged issued and paid-up share capital of Aircel from Aircel Televentures Limited for a cash consideration of $422 million and $378 million respectively.<br />
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(II) Proposed joint venture between GCSHL and Sindya Securities & Investments Private Limited in relation to their participation in the JVC.<br />
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III) Proposed put and call options over GCSHL’s 63,243,243 Aircel Shares representing 26% of the enlarged issued and paid-up share capital of Aircel for a cash consideration of US$280 million (“collectively Aircel Transactions”),” said the declaration made by Maxis to Malaysian Stock Exchange (Bursa Malaysia) on March 15, 2006.<br />
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Maxis filed this declaration to stock exchange through their banker RHB Sakura Merchant Bankers. This declaration shows that Maxis proposed to purchase Aircel shares in three tranches --- first 39 per cent and then 35 per cent and last 26 per cent, at around Rs 4,000 crore. But another document filed by the Maxis to the Malaysian stock exchange says the last tranche was proposed to be of 25.714 per cent share in Aircel.<br />
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The declaration also shows that apart from direct purchase, Maxis acquired Aircel shares through Joint Ventures with Deccan Digital Networks Private Ltd and Sindya Securities and Investments. These two Indian companies were controlled by Sunita Reddy, who belongs to Appolo Hospital Group.<br />
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The Maxis declaration itself could be a prima facie evidence to cancel the license of Aircel, apart from initiation of cases for cheating the Government. But even after six years of the deal, the Government has not acted on it. Reacting to violation of the Indian law by Maxis, Chidambaram said in the Rajya Sabha on Monday, “Let law take its own course.”<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><strong>Maxis CEO stares at arrest, Interpol Red Corner Notice</strong></span><br />
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May 21, 2012 <br />
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In a new twist to the controversial Aircel-Maxis deal, the Indonesian Police has issued arrest warrant against Ralph Marshall, the CEO of Maxis Group and Astro All Asia Network. Ralph Marshall’s name figured as accused in the CBI’s FIR along with former Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran. <br />
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Indonesian newspapers, quoting top National Police official Brig M Taufik, recently reported that Marshall’s name figures in the Wanted List for cheating, forgery, fraud and money laundering.<br />
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Marshall, a Sri Lankan of Tamil origin, holds Canadian citizenship and is residing in Malaysia. He is considered No 2 in the vast business empire floated by the Malaysian tycoon T Ananda Krishnan, popularly known as TAK. Both figured as No 3 and No 4 in the CBI’s FIR along with Maran brothers in the Aircel-Maxis deal.<br />
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According to CBI, for facilitating the acquisition of Aircel by Maxis, Maran brothers received quid-pro-quo through Maxis subsidiary Astro. This company later invested around `600 crore in Maran brothers controlled Sun Networks, CBI’s FIR says.<br />
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“Headquarters of the Indonesian National Police (Police Headquarters) confirmed that the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Astro Malaysia, Ralph Marshall, entered the Wanted Persons List (DPO ) related to cases of alleged criminal forgery. Determination of DPO was issued since 18 April 2012 through a letter numbered DPO/05/IV/2012/DIT General Crime (Pidum) signed Ari Dono Sukmanto Brig,” reported Indonesian newspapers Republica and Antara News, quoting Chief of Bureau of Public Information Headquarters, Brig M Taufik.<br />
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In Indonesia, Wanted Persons List is known as DPO (Daftar Pencarian Orang) and it is issued on fugitives after police fails to arrest them.<br />
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The Indonesian Police officials also said hey have already sent arrest warrant against Marshall through diplomatic channels to Malaysia. The top cops also added they would soon approach Interpol to issue Red Corner Notice against “fugitive Marshall” to force the member countries to arrest him.<br />
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The same was confirmed in Malaysian newspapers like The Edge, Business Times and The Malaysian Insider. “Indonesian Police are looking to arrest Ralph Marshall, the right hand man of Malaysian multi-billionaire T Ananda Krishnan, over fraud and money laundering charges,” reported The Malaysian Insider, adding a report on the forthcoming revamp of Maxis Group following criminal charges faced by Marshall.<br />
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Astro All Asia Networks is the subsidiary of Maxis and have shareholding in several media organisations across the continent including India. Astro has entered into an alliance with Indonesian media company Lippo Group and also has sizeable shares in it.<br />
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The problem started when Astro sold its shares to Saudi Global telecom, without consulting the Indonesian partner Lippo. The Indonesian police have charged Marshall with money laundering, fraud and forgery cases and sued him for a compensation to the tune of $300 mn.<br />
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“Their (Indonesian government) calculation is that if they can exploit the criminal law to cause confusion and fear, they can avoid paying the damages,” Astro’s lawyer Hafzan Taher said in the statement, reported by the Malaysian newspaper Edge.<br />
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CBI, which registered FIR, eight months ago has not been able to question foreign nationals Ananda Krishnan and Marshall. Last week, a CBI team visited Malaysia and sources say Attorney General of Malaysia promised “all help” in relation to Aircel-Maxis deal.<br />
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However, the probe on Maxis violating the Indian foreign investment rules has reached no where. According to norms, maximum permissible level of foreign investment in telecom sector is 74 per cent. Contrary to the FIPB records, Maxis’ declaration to Malaysian stock exchange reveals that they have acquired almost 100 percent shares in Aircel in violation to Indian laws.<br />
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J Gopikrishnanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13957669130831957764noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15659562854748742.post-75347378889735915102012-06-04T11:08:00.001-07:002016-06-09T12:32:28.296-07:00Kerala's Politics of Violence<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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[This Op-Ed artilce published in 'The Pioneer' on June 2, 2012]<br />
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Being born and having lived in Kerala for 37 years, I often feel like laughing when home is described as “God’s own country”. This is how advertisement catch words infiltrate, invade and come to possess our minds. This decorative catch word was first used by Kerala Tourism’s advertisement campaign 15 years ago by, ironically, a Uttar Pradesh based Kerala cadre IAS officer — his name was Amitabh Kant.<br />
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We Malayalis lap up every honour, earned or otherwise, but are notoriously reluctant to recall perceptive albeit unflattering remarks made by distinguished observers. About 120 years back, Swami Vivekananda, while travelling through Travancore princely state, was horrified by the caste hierarchy in the province. He was so moved by the abuse of the backward communities by the self-styled “upper castes” that he left a label for Kerala which has somehow stuck — “lunatic asylum”.<br />
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Whether or not thanks to Swamy Vivekananda’s criticism, a process of change took momentum. This might have started the series of transformations in the social scene. Casteism, though still formidable, is today, in the second decade of the 21st century, a little less visible perhaps. “Progress”, as defined by Leftists and Marxist-Leninists, took shape through trade unionism and self-cleansing reform movements from the middle of the 20th century.<br />
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But the political arena failed to democraticise in the true sense of the term. Fractious caste politics, marked by a degree of violence matched only by the West Bengal experience, mocked the Malayalis’ claim to high status as a progressive people. Wherever the Communists went in India, they firmly planted the banner of “revolution” in the most convoluted sense of the term. To them, “change” meant destruction of body and soul of society, without a viable alternative in tow.<br />
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Thanks to the information revolution of the 1990s, the “little secrets” of Kerala politics have become national touchstones for political degradation. The brutal murder of Kannur schoolteacher and BJP leader Jayakrishnan Master right before his young students in December 1999 will always be counted as one of the lows of Indian democracy. Strangely, the CPI(M) defended the murderers all through.<br />
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The revelations of a district secretary, MM Mani, take the cake. This creature of Communist politics, did not think twice before boasting in full glare of TV cameras that his party<br />
<br />
regularly used murder against political opponents. This only proves that somewhere in the corner of the collective Malayali mind, a devilish corner exists.<br />
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The Communist movement had a great impact in Kerala. The movement which started in the 1920s, worked through workers’ unions and caste relations reforms. But in northern Kerala, the citadel of Communism, nobody quite noticed the gradual barricading of the political consciousness. Though caste politics and religion based fundamentalism did not affect the core of the political scene, a much worse ogre consumed Kerala’s nascent democracy — Stalinism.<br />
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From the early 1970s on, it was quite usual to see people in Kerala die for their political beliefs. Stalinism and its alternative, Maoism, were fashionable among the generation of the mid-1970s, especially in northern Kerala. In their ignorance of the true nature of how these horrific ideologies actually played out, the Malayali perhaps mirrored the Bengalis. Both imitated systems they barely understood, rejecting, in the process, their own culture.<br />
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The “Calcutta thesis” of the Communist party in 1949, which sought for elimination of class (now read as political) enemies is still a fashionable theory in party classes of the CPI(M) in northern Kerala. As person belong to Thalassery in Kannur District, one of the birth places of Communism in Kerala I can vouch for this. The leaders of the party who dominated the discourse were fired by bloodlust. They justified every crime in the name of the party.<br />
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The character of the CPI(M) underwent change in the mid-1970s. The party decided to be strict towards the so-called “ultra-revolutionary movements.” CPI(M) elders from that era recall how dour party meetings suddenly became. Gone was the role of humour and sarcasm from in-door conferences. None would have a smiling face. The dangerous seriousness started shadowing in the internal meetings and smiling leaders became a rare species.<br />
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The murder of rebel CPI(M) leader TP Chandrasekharan early May exposed how deep the rot had set in. The exposition by Mani, which followed, therefore came as no surprise. He revealed the earlier planned eliminations of political opponents in the early 1980s in order to justify the murder of “renegade” Chandrasekharan.<br />
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The State Government, run by the Congress-led UDF, showed courage to initiate criminal action by reopening the old murder cases. But a big question hangs over the Congress’ will to take the matter to its logical end. Many feel that interest would die out after the current Assembly session is concluded.<br />
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Unlike West Bengal, where hard figures from the Home Ministry state that more than 20,000 people, the vast majority of them anti-Congress activists, were killed during the three decades of Communist domination. In Kerala, it is estimated that about 200 people lost their lives in politically motivated killings. The vast majority of these were victims of tit-for-tat murders committed in the never-ending turf war between the CPI(M) and the RSS in Kannur. Often times, the victims or perpetrators were Muslim League or Congress. But the CPI(M) has always been the constant. As a newspaper reporter in Kerala for more than 13 years, I have heard several Mani-kind of speeches by very senior CPI(M) leaders. Fortunately somehow Mani’s speech gone international and the law set in motion. I have often wondered, how is it possible for educated, talented and otherwise sensitive people to transform into murderers for narrow political profit? Distance from Kerala and experience in the north Indian scene, which is so vacuous of ideology, has opened my eyes to what I believe is the core deficiency of the Malayali mind.<br />
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His slavery - in body and soul — to the party line. Humanism pales before the party dictum. And also, the deep politicisation of society and every edifice of the state.<br />
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But today, thankfully, there is a silver lining. The crusader for political reform and former Chief Minister, VS Achuthanandan, has come out publicly against Mani. He has written a letter to the party leadership in Delhi questioning the morality of defending these actions. In the second week of June, we expect to see a thorough debate on this at AKG Bhawan in Gole Market. Unless of course, the self-deluding Malayali prefers to live in the lunatic asylum.<br />
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J Gopikrishnanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13957669130831957764noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15659562854748742.post-25725303766384644292012-06-04T10:44:00.001-07:002012-06-04T10:44:29.332-07:00Manmohan's PPP model with tainted Ravi Rishi<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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[These articles appeared on 'The Pioneer on April 6 & 11, 2012]<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><strong>Tatra- tainted Rishi has lion’s share in Govt’s expo hub</strong></span><br />
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April 11, 2012 <br />
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Controversial arms dealer Ravinder Kumar Rishi’s Vectra Investments is a major stakeholder in Central Government’s mega handicrafts hub and export venture, India Expo Centre and Mart. This project spread over 58 hectares in Greater Noida with 1,800 shops was inaugurated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2006. <br />
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According to statements submitted to SEBI by Rishi’s Global Vectra Helicorp, the India Exposition Mart Limited, where Rishi’s Vectra Investments has a 20-per cent share, is the biggest share holder in India Expo Centre & Mart. The Government, through Export <br />
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Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH) under Textile Ministry, subscribed to 9.02 per cent share in this Rishi-controlled project, which operates across the world, dealing with handicrafts sale, export and import.<br />
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Apart from Vectra Investments and EPCH, the remaining stakes in the company are held by minority individual share holders on rotation basis, mostly the handicrafts exporters and traders basically from Moradabad.<br />
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Inaugurating the India Expo Centre on January 6, 2006, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh hailed this project as a classical example of Public-Private Partnership success.<br />
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“The Prime Minister complimented the Textile Minister for the performance of the industry and lauded its contribution to the export earnings as well as employment generation in the country. He also congratulated the promoters of the Mart and EPCH for timely completion of the project. He said that patterned on the PPP model, this Mart would set an example for many others,” said a supplement issued by EPCH in connection with the inauguration.<br />
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In lieu of its 9.02- per cent share, two Government nominees are on the board of this company having worldwide presence. A joint secretary in-charge of exports in the Textile Ministry and another official nominated by Development Commissioner (Handicrafts) are the two directors of the Rishi-controlled company. The records of the Registrar of Company show that after setting up the headquarters in Greater Noida, the India Exposition Mart Limited nominated on its board two officials from Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority.<br />
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India Exposition Mart Limited, where Rishi and his family members have controlling stakes, has either set up or is in the process of setting up centralised export centres in Dallas, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Utrecht in the Netherlands and Shanghai. Like in his other companies, in India Expo Mart also several retired Army officials hold key posts.<br />
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In Vectra Investments Private Limited, registered in Bangalore in 1997, which controls all Rishi’s ventures including the India Expo Mart, his close family members Deepti Rishi, Suruchi Rishi, Swati Rishi, Rati Rishi and Hemang Rishi are share holders along with him.<br />
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With Rishi on the CBI radar in Tatra truck deal, the disclosure will be embarrassing for the Government, which will find it difficult to explain why they selected him as a key partner in handicrafts development in local and international market when he did not have any expertise in the field.<br />
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Sources said CBI was probing Rishi’s proximity to suspended IAS couple Arvind Kumar Joshi and Tinoo Joshi. Recently investigators seized Rs 360 crore from the Bhopal residence of this couple. During 1999-2004, Arvind was a Joint Secretary level officer in Defence Ministry. More importantly, Tinoo was Development Commissioner (Handicrafts) during this period, when EPCH under her decided to partner with Rishi’s expo mart project.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><strong>Vectra’ Ravi Rishi no stranger to controversy</strong></span><br />
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April 6, 2012-06-02<br />
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Arms dealer Ravi Rishi’s Vectra is not new to controversy. His companies were also at the centre of a scandal leading to the cancellation of the multi-billion Eurocopter deal for purchase of 197 choppers for the Indian Army in 2007. <br />
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Vectra’s subsidiary Global Vectra Helicorp is headed by one Lt Gen (rtd) SJS Sehgal, who was also a director of the Vectra Aviation, sole distributor of the Eurocopter choppers. He was also former head of the Army’s aviation wing. Incidentally, his younger brother, then serving Lt General HS Sehgal, was involved in the trials of the Bell and Eurocopter choppers for more than a year to select the bidder.<br />
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The deal was cancelled after Bell complained to the Ministry of Defence on the role of Sehgal brothers and Rishi’s companies in trying to swing the deal in favour of the Eurocopter.<br />
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Hoping to get the deal in favour of Eurocopter, at one point Vectra Aviation was planning to set up a Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) for Eurocopter choppers in India at an estimated investment of 6 million Euros.<br />
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In their complaint, Bell pointed to the clash of interest and role of middlemen. It cited that younger Sehgal was involved in the field evaluation and preparation of trial reports for the two helicopter companies whereas the senior Sehgal was lobbying for Eurocopter .<br />
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However, Rishi’s name did not figure in the controversy as media focus remained on the two brothers.<br />
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A series of financial statements filed by Rishi in 2006 to SEBI for floating IPO for Global Vectra Helicorp shows that several retired top Army officials were associated with the slew of companies floated by him over the past 14 years. Apart from this several retired middle level officers from the forces and their relatives are holding managerial positions in Rishi’s companies.<br />
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Lt General RIS Kahlon, who recently passed away, was the Director of Tetra Trucks India Limited and Vectra Advanced Engineering.<br />
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</div>J Gopikrishnanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13957669130831957764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15659562854748742.post-51054378846648596062012-06-04T10:31:00.002-07:002012-06-04T10:37:26.218-07:00Montek's doubtful games on Rail and Road<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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[These two articles appeared on 'The Pioneer' on March 19 & 21, 2012]<br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;">US loco giant pits Montek against planners</span></strong><br />
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March 19, 2012<br />
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In the midst of political turmoil over the railway fare hike, an intense fight is going on in higher echelons of bureaucracy over the selection of bidders for two locomotive factories that then Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav had announced for his parliamentary constituency in Bihar in 2009. In the 2009 Railway Budget, Lalu had announced setting up of one electric locomotive factory at Madhepura and another diesel loco factory in Marhowra on PPP model.<br />
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The process of selection of bidders has pitched two key Ministries — Railways and Finance — against the Planning Commission. Top officials of Railway Board and Finance Ministry have objected to the proposals of Plan panel to change the Cabinet-approved bidding process and supply conditions for these two pending projects, which have reached nowhere in three years.<br />
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The official communication and file notings available with The Pioneer show that top officials of Railway Board and Finance Ministry protested over the changing of the Cabinet decisions to favour certain bidders by Plan panel deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia’s Advisor Gajendra Haldea. For executing the bidding process, the Cabinet in 2009 formed an Empowered Committee consisting of officials drawn from Railway Board, Finance Ministry and Planning Commission. The controversies started when Haldea mooted some changes last year in the Cabinet-approved proposal.<br />
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In case of Madhepura project, senior officials of the Railway Board and Finance Ministry noted down that the minutes of the meeting were also “changed” and “misquoted” to propose major changes in the bidding documents to favour the US giant, General Electric.<br />
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In a series of communications between the Empowered Committee members, Finance Ministry and Railway Board officials have stated that Haldea’s proposal to change the Cabinet approved bidding procedures and supply conditions would place an extra burden of more than Rs16,405 crore.<br />
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Sources told The Pioneer, in several meetings of the empowered group, heated exchanges took place and some members alleged that these changes were introduced to suit General Electric — the lone bidder for the project. In the bidding process of Marhowra project also, top officials of the Railways and Finance Ministries protested Haldea’s high-handedness. “Haldea apparently thinks that India is a Banana Republic that can be forced to accept a con game….,” noted Sanjiv Handa Member (Mechanical) of Railway Board in a note seen by the Railway Board Chairman.<br />
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In the same note, Additional Member (Production Unit) SK Sharma of the Railways wrote that “it is unfortunate that professionalism, probity and regard for highest standards of integrity of the mechanical directorate are being questioned by resorting to sensationalism, misinformation and slander, rather than reasoned debate. It is for the investigators to determine whether this was part of a larger agenda aimed at compromising the Indian Railways interest.”<br />
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The Finance Ministry officials also expressed displeasure on changing of Cabinet-approved bidding and supply conditions. A Railway Board note of June 28, 2011 read, “Economic Affairs Secretary R Gopalan specifically asked financial commissioner the decisions of the Empowered Committee at the behest of the bidders will need to be seen with regard to their financial aspects so as to ensure that gaming by the bidders is ruled out and Railways interest will not be compromised. The minutes do not include these concerns of the Secretary, Economic Affairs.”<br />
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In a communication to Montek on February 9, Planning Commission Member Secretary Sudha Pillai questioned the authority of Haldea for approving the changed proposals, which he himself mooted. “Subsequently, several amendments that were proposed to the terms approved by the Cabinet were also admittedly authored by him. These proposals altering the terms of the proposed contracts in significant ways were quickly endorsed by the Infrastructure Division (headed by Haldea), bypassing me on some occasions.<br />
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“However, these amendments when subjected to detailed discussion and scrutiny by the Empowered Committee were found to have serious implications which had not been adequately addressed. It was clear that these amendments were not subjected to independent and impartial scrutiny. This created a very embarrassing situation for me as a member of the Empowered Committee,” said Sudha Pillai in a communication to Montek.<br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;">Plan panel tweaks toll to favour developer</span></strong><br />
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March 21, 2012<br />
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Ignoring the directions of Supreme Court’s Monitoring Committee and overruling strong objections from Planning Commission Members, the plan panel has approved a 1.5-time increase in toll rates for Eastern Peripheral Expressway. This increase was proposed by CP Joshi, Minister for Road Transport and Highways, and the proposal was mooted by Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia’s advisor Gajendra Haldea. <br />
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The documents available with The Pioneer show that on several occasions, NHAI (National Highway Authority of India) officials objected to the proposal to increase EPE toll rates and said it was an attempt to help the developer of Western Peripheral Expressway (WPE), whose toll rates were less. The decision to create these two expressways followed a Supreme Court order in 1984 on a Public Interest Litigation on heavy traffic congestion and frequent road accidents in Delhi.<br />
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The WPE starts from Kundli and via Manesar, it reaches Palwal. The EPE too starts from Kundli and via Bagpat, Gaziabad and Noida, it reaches Palwal. Both expressways meant to de-congest Delhi have equal length of 135 km and were decided to be constructed on Build Operate Transfer (BOT) system.<br />
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The implementing agency of WPE, also known as KMP (Kundli-Manesar-Palwal) is the Haryana Government-run HSIIDC. The developer of this expressway is DSC Limited, owned by HS Narula and MS Narula. The construction started on 2007 and was supposed to be completed by 2010. But till date only 60 per cent of work has been completed, and it may take three more years for fruition. The toll rate of a car fixed for WPE is Rs 170.<br />
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The EPE’s implementing agency is Central Government’s NHAI. The project is still on paper and even bidding process has not started. Ignoring the direction of the Supreme Court-appointed Monitoring Committee, the new toll policy, which came into existence in 2008, raised the toll rate of EPE for cars to Rs 230. NHAI officials and Finance Ministry on several notes observed that the toll rates of the WPE and EPE should be equal.<br />
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“The toll rates of WPE and EPE should be kept at par to ensure that there is no diversion of traffic along WPE. Higher toll rates of EPE will lead to diversion of traffic towards WPE resulting in non-viability of the project and undue benefit to the concessionaire (DSC Limited) of WPE,” said an NHAI communication to Ministry on December 3, 2010, citing the direction of the SC’s monitoring committee.<br />
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One year ago Montek’s advisor Gajendra Haldea, who rules the roost in the powerful Infrastructure Division, mooted the proposal to the Road Transport and Highways to treat the EPE as a bypass. This was a clever ploy by Haldea, because as per the new toll policy, toll rates for a bypass can be 1.5-times higher than expressways. Sources say, after CP Joshi became the Minister of Road Transport and Highways, this proposal gained momentum. Several engineers objected to this proposal and said EPE was a new expressway and a 135-kilometre road could never be treated as bypass.<br />
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Treating the EPE as a bypass and increasing the toll rate 1.5 times would cost a car Rs 340 to cross the EPE, while the WPE, which has equal length, has only Rs 170 as toll for the same vehicle. This would lead to two situations. First, all the traffic would divert to WPE. Second, no bidder would come for construction of EPE, and give complete traffic monopoly to WPE. Strongly objecting to this dubious proposal, which clearly intends to favour the developer of WPE, Planning Commission Member BK Chaturvedi wrote to Montek that this proposal should go to Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure (CCI) for approval.<br />
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“If the PPPAC (Public Private Partnership Appraisal Committee) are to be overturned and matters which are delegated to it are to go to Cabinet afresh, we might as well abolish the PPAC….if higher toll rates are charged, naturally the bids will be better. But to that extent, people will be taxed more. There is also the worry that its usage may get limited and the purpose of making the bypass may not fulfilled.<br />
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“In view of above, I do not agree with the proposal in principle to review any decision of the PPPAC unless there is mala fides intension in it. I find none in the instant case. I feel that the project has already been delayed and we should go ahead with the current process,” said Chaturvedi on February 1, 2012.<br />
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Agreeing with Chaturvedi’s observations, Commission’s Member Secretary Sudha Pillai in a note to Montek on the very next day blamed Haldea for misquoting her. “I must also place on record my objection to the statement at para 9 of the note of Advisor to DCH (Haldea)…that I have supported the higher rate of 1.5 times. ….imposition of a higher toll rate will be contrary to Government policy and will not be in public interest…..The EPE is not a bypass but an Expressway….the draft OM (Office Memorandum) placed below is premature and full of wrong reasoning,” she wrote.<br />
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But after 11 days, ignoring the views of Finance Ministry officials and NHAI engineers and overruling the objections of his colleagues, Montek approved the dubious proposal mooted by Haldea to increase the toll rate of EPE, which would help the developer of WPE.<br />
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However Minister RTH (CP Joshi) has decided to take a different view which he is entitled to do. PPAC is an official level committee and Minister is not bound by it in going back to the Cabinet…..I feel we should apply the relevant rule, but we have to leave it to the Ministry to decide whether it is indeed a bypass.<br />
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“The Ministry has proposed treating it as a bypass and applies the relevant rule. Planning Commission concurs with the proposal,” wrote Montek on February 13, 2012, giving green signal to increase the toll rate of EPE. This literally makes EPE non-viable and offers a bumper bonanza to DSC Limited, the developer of Western Peripheral Expressway.<br />
<br /></div>J Gopikrishnanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13957669130831957764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15659562854748742.post-54916952030766620172012-06-04T10:11:00.001-07:002013-01-18T00:29:23.298-08:00Investigators go easy on US-indicted middleman Sanjay Pasari<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<em>[This report published in 'The Pioneer' on December 7, 2011. Everybody talk on blackmoney stashed in foreign banks. But no action from India, even while foreign governments and courts fix such Indian illegal account holders]</em><br />
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Indian investigating and enforcement agencies have not cracked down on a politically connected middleman even after the US counterparts provided them with details of his ‘frozen’ unaccounted deposit of around $400 million in several Swiss Bank accounts. <br />
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The middleman, Sanjay Pasari, operating mainly in the coal and mining sector, was implicated by the US Justice Department and Securities & Exchange Commission in late 2010 in a probe related to bribing of Indian officials, while acting as an agent of multinational mining giant Bucyrus, which has now merged with Caterpillar.<br />
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A Geneva court order passed on February 16, 2011 upon the alert issued by US authorities under International Criminal Mutual Aid, froze (probative sequestration) accounts of Sanjay Pasari (No. 2952334), his brother Rajiv Pasari (a/c no : 1996090), their firm Savan Foundation (a/c no : 1159024) and his company Infotech Guernsey (a/c no : 189502) at Lloyds TSB Bank in Switzerland.<br />
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The court order available with The Pioneer shows that the Swiss Government also blocked accounts linked to Pasari in the name of Vishwa Industrial Co Pvt Ltd, VT Industries Ltd Squirrel Developers, Niraj Kumar Pasari, Davind Lee, the former director of Bucyrus’ Indian subsidiary and CET Consulting Engineering Trading Anstalt Vaduz.Most of these companies are registered in Pasari’s home turf, Kolkata.<br />
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Even after getting such sensitive and concrete information of huge black money stash of an Indian citizen in foreign banks, the Government here has done precious little to proceed against Pasari. The CBI has only issued alerts to Ministries connected with coal, mining, steel and fertilisers by placing Pasari on the ‘Undesirable Contact Men’ list, which warns Government officials to avoid contact with such persons.<br />
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The Government’s inaction against Pasari comes in the backdrop of the fact that he is closely associated with political heavyweights, including a former Cabinet Minister in the UPA-I and politicians from Bihar, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and the North East. “US authorities are in the process of also seizing his accounts in Dubai, London, Mauritius and Guernsey Islands. By mid-2012, US authorities would finish the seizure procedures in London,” said a highly placed official.<br />
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Pasari’s name also surfaced in Madhu Koda’s scam, following which the Enforcement Directorate had also initiated probe against him. In 2006, he was wanted in some cases when Jharkhand cracked down on illegal miners, added a source. Pasari’s role in bribing Indian PSUs and their officials first was detected by the auditors of the Caterpillar engaged for finalising Bucyrus merger with it. When Pasari was questioned by US authorities, he is reported to have admitted of paying $ 2 million as bribe on behalf of Bucyrus to officials of a coal sector PSU during 2009-10 for striking a big mining deal. Pasari made this disclosure under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of America, according to sources.<br />
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Pasari was also asked to submit all documents and bank accounts relating to his operations. According to documents available with The Pioneer, apart from Coal India, Pasari has dealings with several PSUs like National Mineral Development Corporation, Bharat Earth Movers, Power Finance Corporation and McNally Bharat Engineering Company Ltd.<br />
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“The US investigations proved that he had parked ill gotten wealth in all tax havens across the world. He even formed charity organizations like Savan Foundation for alleged money laundering,” said sources. Savan’s account has also been frozen in Switzerland.<br />
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According to the notice served by US investigators, Pasari operated from three locations — 62A Hazara Road, Kolkata; B-21 Rashidiya. PO Box 51031, Dubai; and Anson Court, Les Campus, St.Martin’s in Guernsey Island, a British crown dependency in the English Channel.<br />
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J Gopikrishnanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13957669130831957764noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15659562854748742.post-13894371199109078932012-03-08T11:36:00.010-08:002012-04-14T02:01:51.395-07:00Battles won, but the WAR is not over<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT7nB3-eNxNduGgRDnSUOy50sama15RTxXHkivLMuU0jngX-RsBf3V3PRojFR-OBo6dRhvk_pTR8__NfoOteJWG1lNa_FH1g5Fza8z9rw6iA0n8DRsN5YsXgxFR-Z4593uw43gPoRwLEM/s1600/The+Pioneer+Feb+3%252C+2012.bmp"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 206px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5717734756458561282" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT7nB3-eNxNduGgRDnSUOy50sama15RTxXHkivLMuU0jngX-RsBf3V3PRojFR-OBo6dRhvk_pTR8__NfoOteJWG1lNa_FH1g5Fza8z9rw6iA0n8DRsN5YsXgxFR-Z4593uw43gPoRwLEM/s320/The+Pioneer+Feb+3%252C+2012.bmp" /></a> <br /><div>At last fraud 122 telecom licenses granted by former tainted Telecom A.Raja is cancelled by Supreme Court. The Congress and UPA Government have not yet learned lessons. That is why they filed review petition without any remorse. The motive of the review petition simply exposes that A.Raja is not the lone beneficiary of the 2G Scandal. Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi have not yet learned lessons from UP poll results.<br /><br />Congress party even failed to make advantage from Punjab and Uttarakhand, where Akali Dal and BJP were facing severe anti-incumbency, allegations of corruption and headaches from dissidents. Such was the Tsunami waves lashed nationwide by the agitations of Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev against the corruption in Central Government after CAG and Supreme Court took stern steps on 2G Scandal in the last months of 2010.<br /><br />But the arrogant Congress leadership thought they can manage pubic mandate by fooling Muslim voters. The things became worse, when the Government and party leadership run by corporate advocates turned ministers.<br /><br />Ideally advocates should advice the clients on right things. Unfortunately they tried to appease the clients by tendering illegal advices and try to become the protectors of crime. Now in the legal world, for minting money none enlightens the client. The 2G cases are open and shut ones. But for minting money the advocates engaged by accused give wrong advices. Similar is the case of corporate advocates turned ministers in the central government. Mom and Son likes this kind of characters and electoral drubbings continues to happen and will happen in future also.<br /><br />Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi still keeping mum on 2G Spectrum Scandal. So naturally people will have tendency to believe the non-countered allegations. One thing sure this humongous scandal is not Raja’s lone operation. They should explain or counter. But the review petitions against cancellation of 122 licenses strengthen the allegations against them. If this is the case one day the 2G ghost would reach their door step.<br /><br />Some corporate cheer leaders and fraud legal eagles consoles, if review petition fails, Government would go for Presidential intervention like in the case of presidential pardon to Nixon in Watergate scandal by his successor Gerald Ford in 1974. Hearing this dirty decision reporter Bob Woodward was awakened by his colleague Carl Bernstein over phone: “…the son of a bitch pardoned the son of a bitch.”<br /><br />Any way Indian laws are different from US and people have empowered a lot. None of the people in power dare to do such things now, especially after the gory images on the end of Libyan dictator Gaddafi.<br /><br />Home Minister P.Chidambaram too keeps mum and never comes out open to defend. During his tenure as Finance Minister 2G Scam happened. As a custodian of public exchequer he should have intervened to stop the scam. Those days he was giving rejoinders to each and every news item on other subjects. But in spectrum allocation he kept quiet. Is it just due to compulsions of coalition politics syndrome as excused by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh?<br /><br />The fact was Chidambaram overruled the Finance Ministry officials who objected Raja’s designs. Otherwise the2009 Lok Sabha election result of Sivaganga constituency would have been different.<br /><br />One good thing in the Special CBI Court Judge OP Saini’s order is - it says Chidambaram consented with Raja in spectrum allocation at seven year old damn cheap prices and share offloading of tainted companies to Multi Nationals at whopping rates. It is not the job of Dr.Swamy to find the money trail or conspiracy angle on Chidambaram. It is the job of investigators. But in India, the investigators should be empowered by courts to act boldly.<br /><br />Unfortunately, even during Supreme Court monitored probe, DMK's Ministers like SS Palanimanickam, Minister of State for Finance tries to do dirty tricks. My information is he is directing Income Tax officials to issue notices to relatives of key witnesses in the 2G trial in order to arm-twist the witnesses for changing their deposition against his party colleagues Raja and Kanimozhi. For the past eight years this key portfolio (read money minting), which controls Income Tax, Customs and Excise is under DMK.<br /><br />Any way Subramanian Swamy and Prashant Bhushan have taken the matter to Supreme Court. I wish them all success and expect more exposes. I wish all success to anti-corruption crusaders. My heart is with them - Only with real crusaders, not with Ram Jethmalani kind of characters who talks against corruption and at last appears in court for corrupt people. I really doubt his so called fight against black money.<br /><br />Raja is spending his second summer in Tihar jail. Hope more people to come in future. Obviously fraud advocates will be the ultimate beneficiaries of each scam. India’s Advocates Act, need to be thoroughly amended to fix these frauds. The corporate cheerleaders try to ignore the merits of Justice GS Singhvi and Justice AK Ganguly on cancelling the tainted licenses which open the doors for auction to fill our cash strapped public exchequer. More over the order automatically confiscated around Rs.14,000 crores, the amount dubiously remitted by these fraud licenses. Unfortunately some people in media want to highlight the agony of the corporate due to this boldest order. None is learning lessons even after the leakage of Nira Radia tapes.<br /><br />Kapil Sibal’s Zero Loss theory started making Zero Gains for Congress in elections. Salman Khurshid’s crocodile tears for Muslims kicked his wife to fifth position in the assembly elections. Muslims in UP wanted a Musalman leader, but Congress leadership gave them Salman. More is waiting for him for manipulating and giving clean chits to Reliance-Swan and Essar-Loop deals, just before CBI filing chargesheets on these companies. Everybody’s number will come one by one.<br /><br />Any way Battles won, but the WAR against corruption is still ON. </div>J Gopikrishnanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13957669130831957764noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15659562854748742.post-42242820511508497552012-03-08T10:58:00.003-08:002012-03-08T11:02:51.171-08:00The Pioneer’s 2G scam whistleblower bags Goenka Award<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK3wDC2MSX0NvmcGOHRdmC-tJQfi_hJSqYIs2KYfPTmghaBdgzUU_CV2kFkXJTcK54Bmb6t7k6sFVRIcdb64yzu-6SMgs6H67mR8HWL-Juj9pzM9R_2fNCMxgsEajLWgohv_Z2pIYdUuA/s1600/Ramnath+Goenka+Awards+2009.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK3wDC2MSX0NvmcGOHRdmC-tJQfi_hJSqYIs2KYfPTmghaBdgzUU_CV2kFkXJTcK54Bmb6t7k6sFVRIcdb64yzu-6SMgs6H67mR8HWL-Juj9pzM9R_2fNCMxgsEajLWgohv_Z2pIYdUuA/s320/Ramnath+Goenka+Awards+2009.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5717603678902641730" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSpkuJRrUcbzCn_-PFiMhx0Np_bRpod0IZIXsK-ZDhuvqOeHrRq9PIg0HZQMfNCc4Yydenk_t38btT6SD0PuaBLDpv337YsxpYmEFEOGn1e9wcqLFKhpcajUHoWV9df_11wCE7I39HXvo/s1600/Ramnath+Goenka+Journalist+of+the+Year+2009+in+Print+Category.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSpkuJRrUcbzCn_-PFiMhx0Np_bRpod0IZIXsK-ZDhuvqOeHrRq9PIg0HZQMfNCc4Yydenk_t38btT6SD0PuaBLDpv337YsxpYmEFEOGn1e9wcqLFKhpcajUHoWV9df_11wCE7I39HXvo/s320/Ramnath+Goenka+Journalist+of+the+Year+2009+in+Print+Category.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5717603536009051666" /></a><br />The Pioneer News Service<br />New Delhi January 17, 2012<br /><br />The Pioneer’s special correspondent J Gopikrishnan won yet another laurel when he received the Ramnath Goenka Journalist of the Year Award in print category here on Monday. CNBC managing editor Udayan Mukherjee was adjudged best journalist of the year in broadcast category . Both of these prestigious awards were for the year 2009. <br />The two awards, introduced by The Indian Express Group in 2006, carried a cash prize of Rs 2.5 lakh each. The awards were bestowed by Vice-President Hamid Ansari. The Indian Express Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta presided over the well-attended function at Taj Hotel here. Thirty nine other winners in 17 other categories received a prize of Rs.One lakh each.<br /><br />Popular as Gopi among his colleagues, Gopikrishnan had also won the last year’s CNN-IBN special achievement award and several other felicitations for his remarkable series of stories on the 2G spectrum scam, which shook the UPA Government and led to the arrest of several political biggies and bureaucrats. Dedicating his award to The Pioneer, his colleagues, and Editor-in-Chief Chandan Mitra, Gopi said, “I wanted to name several other people who helped in my pursuit, but since the trial is on, I could not reveal their identities.”<br /><br />Congratulating Gopi, Chandan Mitra said he rarely met a journalist who achieved so much and yet remained so humble. “He has put on no airs despite the accolades he has received and the many awards he has won. He remains committed to his profession, and profession alone,” Mitra said, adding, “The Pioneer is proud to have such a journalist in our team.”<br /><br />Gopi first brought the nation’s attention to the massive irregularities in the award of spectrum in early 2008 when a few had heard of the well-crafted conspiracy to plunder the nation’s resources and shortchange the exchequer to tune of Rs 1.76 lakh crore by an unholy nexus of politicians, bureaucrats and corporates. Unmindful of the fact that a few newspapers or TV channels cared to follow up his stories, Gopi persisted with his hard work. While he focuses on specifics, he always came out with additional materials to spice up his stories. <br /><br />In a scam of this magnitude many of the juicy side stories that he shared in the news room could not be published for want of evidence, but they showed his remarkable grasp of the subject and the vast network of his contacts. From personal life of the accused persons to their professional indiscretions, Gopi knew it all. His approach was so professional and meticulous that a few could ever contradict his stories - or accuse him of bias.<br /><br />Needless to say that in the scam of this proportion, he faced pulls and pressure from different quarters, which he withstood like a true professional, never blinking, never compromising. For someone who started his foray in Delhi journalism four years ago as a little known Kerala stringer, Gopi’s career is not limited to exposing the 2G scam. Consistency has been the hallmark of Gopi, who has regularly come out with front page stories on a diverse range of issues.<br /><br />The high-point of his 2G scam reporting was the expose of Nira Radia tape that created a sensation and forced the media to take note of the scam. When the CAG report on 2G scam, endorsed nearly every aspect of the scandal so vividly captured by Gopi in his write-ups, the political establishment was forced to act. The then Telecom Minister A Raja had to be ousted from the Union Cabinet, and the Centre had to order CBI probe in the scam.<br /><br />Speaking on the occasion, Vice-President Ansari said that in a changed and changing world, it would be useful to remember that vibrant journalism in a democracy is watchdog journalism. “It monitors the exercise of power and influence in society and stands for the rights and freedoms of citizens. It informs and empowers citizens rather than entertains and titillates them,” he said.<br /><br />He added, “Our media, and democracy, are fortunate that we have shining examples of journalists who not only embody the ethical dimension, but sadly, also laid down their life for the same.”J Gopikrishnanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13957669130831957764noreply@blogger.com5