CBI claims Kani knew it all, bail verdict on May 14
Kanimozhi, Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi’s daughter and an accused in the 2G spectrum case, is still stuck in a ‘jail or bail’ situation. Sumit Saxena reports. Kanimozhi's defence
Kanimozhi, Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi’s daughter and an accused in the 2G spectrum case, is still stuck in a ‘jail or bail’ situation.
The special CBI court on Saturday fixed May 14 for pronouncing the verdict on Kanimozhi and Kalaignar TV managing director Sharad Kumar’s bail pleas.
Even a day after her lawyer Ram Jethmalani sought to blame former telecom minister A Raja for the Rs200-crore alleged kickback the DMK family-owned Kalignar TV got, Raja and Kanimozhi were seen sitting together in the courtroom and constantly talking to each other.
Opposing her bail plea, the CBI said she was the brain behind the R200-crore kickback allegedly paid to Kalaignar TV by another scam accused, Shahid Balwa.
CBI special public prosecutor UU Lalit told special judge OP Saini: “Behind the scene, the person controlling everything in Kalaignar TV is this lady (Kanimozhi).”
He said that because of the “closeness” between Raja and Kanimozhi, “the kickbacks ultimately found their way to Kalaignar TV”.
While Kanimozhi claimed she had no role in the scam, Kumar argued the alleged bribe was a loan that had already been paid back.
On Kanimozhi’s claim of innocence, Lalit said she colluded with Raja and other accused to create documents to show the bribe was a genuine loan. The money was allegedly channeled to Kalaignar in exchange for a Delhi circle telecom licence for Swan Telecom.
“The manner of transactions is suspicious and so are the dates on which back-to-back transactions were made to return the kickback money… They created records of balance sheets and TDS (tax deducted at source) to show legitimate funds were received and then returned,” Lalit said.
He said when Raja was summoned for questioning, Kalaignar TV started taking precautionary measures and sent the money back to Cineyug. Later, Cineyug returned it to Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables, which sent it to Dynamix Realty. According to the CBI, Balwa controlled all these firms.
Lalit also pointed out that Karunanidhi’s wife Dayalu Ammal — who holds 60% equity in Kalaignar TV — said on record she did not take any decision on the money flow.
"She and her family control 80% equity in Kalaignar TV. It would be impractical to say someone other than her took decisions," Lalit said.