A fresh round of trouble has arose for corporate giants like Tata Group and Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries following the Supreme Court order to the CBI to register 14 FIRs in connection with the Radia tapes.
The court order of October 17, now made public, has revealed that the cases referred for CBI probe showed evidence of kickbacks paid to middlemen, Income Tax officials for bagging coal blocks, iron ore mines, and other deals. There are also proofs of I-T officials employing touts to collect bribes, and manipulation of Government records. Six of the 14 issues showed murky affairs in the Income Tax department. Some I-T officials had employed CAs to collect bribes, the order said.
The remaining eight issues were “prima facie indicative of the deep-rooted malaise in the system” and private enterprises took advantage of it “in collaboration/connivance with the Government officials”, said the order passed by Justices GS Singhvi and V Gopala Gowda. Tata Group faces probe in two cases relating to supply of low-floor buses by Tata Motors to Tamil Nadu under the JNNURM scheme, and allotment of iron-ore mines at Ankua, Singhbhum to Tata Steel.
The role of Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries came under scanner for receiving favours from Director General Hydrocarbons VK Sibal. The order specifically implies how some I-T officials were “hand-in-glove” with private individuals, including Radia and her companies. The CBI has been directed to probe into payment of illegal gratification to I-T officials, criminal misconduct by public servant in respect of survey/raid conducted by I-T department, payment of illegal gratification/favours extended to public servants, and conversations regarding allocation of spectrum.
Anil Ambani-led ADAG Group would also face scrutiny in three cases. This includes allotment of coal blocks to Sasan Ultra Mega Power Project run by Anil Ambani Group, and alleged fudging in subscriber base/ record by Reliance Communication and submission of same to BSE and TRAI to save money. In addition, the allotment of an iron ore mine made to Reliance ADAG having no steel mine has been referred for probe to Chief Vigilance Officer of Ministry of Mines.
Other miscellaneous issues that emerged from Radia tapes ordered for probe included appointment of former TRAI Chairman Pradeep Baijal as Chairman of Pipeline Advisory Committee, working of touts and middlemen and kickbacks in aviation sector, and market manipulation and hammering of stocks of Unitech. An expert committee of CBI officials and I-T Inspectors constituted by the apex court sifted through the 5,800 intercepted calls Radia had with mediapersons, politicians, businessmen, corporate persons and bureaucrats and proposed that in 17 cases, an element of serious criminality existed. But the court chose only 10 among them for probe. Of them eight went to CBI, one was referred to Ministry of Mines and another issue pertaining to corruption and malpractice in judiciary was marked to Chief Justice of India. The CBI is expected to prepare its report in two months and report to Court on December 16.