The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday moved the Delhi High Court challenging the trial court judgment in the 2G scam acquitting former Telecom Minister A Raja, DMK MP Kanimozhi and others in the money laundering case. The ED, in its appeal, listed out many points where Special Judge OP Saini “ignored the gravity of the office” and “committed grave error” even after the proof of a Rs 200-crore kickback was submitted. The CBI is also expected to file its appeal soon.
“The Special Judge gravely erred by not appreciating the fact that the Supreme Court had examined large number of documents and various other material and ordered cancellation of 122 licences granted during the Ministership of A Raja to various persons,” said the ED in its appeal filed by Special Public Prosecutor Rajeev Awasthi .
In the petition, the ED said the trial court judge failed to consider the many provisions of the Prevention of Money laundering Act (PMlA) and ignored their case by merely rejecting the CBI’s charges.
“The Special Judge very casually ignored the proved evidence through documents as well as supported by the testimony of the witnesses that Rs 43.75-crore cash was given for the accommodation by taking cheque of the equal amount,” the ED said arguing that the judge totally ignored the testimonies of witnesses and documents establishing the Rs 200-crore money trail from Shahid Balwa’s telecom firm to the DMK-run Kalaignar TV. The telecom firm transferred the money to the TV channel through a vegetable firm and movie distribution company.
Besides Raja and Kanimozhi, the special court had on December 21, 2017 acquitted 17 others, including DMK chief M Karunanidhi’s wife Dayalu Ammal, Shahid Balwa and Vinod Goenka of Swan Telecom, Asif Balwa and Rajiv Aggarwal of Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt. ltd., film producer Karim Morani, P. Amirtham and Sharad Kumar, Director of Kalaignar TV.