Three years after it initiated a probe into the money laundering aspect of the 2G scam, the Enforcement Directorate on Friday chargesheeted DMK chief M Karunanidhi’s 83-year-old ailing wife Dayalu Ammal, his daughter Kanimozhi and former Telecom Minister A Raja for allegedly receiving Rs 200-crore in kickbacks in the telecom scandal.
A total of ten people and nine companies have been chargesheeted by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for their role in transfer of kickbacks from 2G scam beneficiary Swan Telecom to DMK-run Kalaignar TV.
The ED’s much-delayed decision to chargesheet Dayalu Ammal comes in the wake of strained ties between the ruling Congress at the Centre and the DMK. Ever since the Karunanidhi-led outfit refused to ally with the Congress for the lok Sabha polls, the two sides have been spewing venom against each other in poll campaigns.
In the CBI chargesheet against Raja and the others, Dayalu Ammal was a witness since the agency said she was not an active partner in the day-to-day activities of Kalaignar TV. Her deposition as witness took place at her home in Chennai after Karunanidhi’s family approached the Supreme Court and said she was not in a position to travel to Delhi.
Special Public Prosecutor Naveen Kumar Matta filed the charge sheet for the ED before Special CBI Judge OP Saini and said the agency has investigated the “flow of funds” and found that the kickback money was “laundered” by the accused.
The judge fixed the charge sheet for consideration for taking cognizance for April 30. All the accused were charged for the offence of money laundering and abetting of crime under the provisions of Prevention of Money laundering Act (PMlA). The charges entail punishment from three to seven years and attachment of properties.
Though the CBI filed a charge sheet in April 2011, the ED took its own sweet time in nailing the culprits even though the probes by both the agencies were directly monitored by the Supreme Court (SC). The ED, under the Finance Ministry led by P Chidambaram, had faced the wrath of the SC on several occasions for delay in filing the charge sheet and probes related to money laundering in the 2G scam. After the DMK’s exit from the Government, the ED started processing the charge sheet by mid-2013.
In its chargesheet, the ED also named Swan Telecom Pvt ltd promoters Shahid Usman Balwa and Vinod Goenka and their associates Asif Balwa, Rajiv Aggarwal, Karim Morani as accused in the case for paying bribes of Rs 200-crore to DMK-run Kalaignar TV. MD of the DMK-run TV channel group Sharad Kumar and P Amritam were also accused by ED in the receipt of kickbacks for getting telecom licenses.
The nine companies, Swan Telecom, DB Realty, Dynamix Realty, Eversmile Constructions, Kusegaon Vegetables, Cineyug , Nihar Constructions, Conwood Construction and Kalaignar TV were also chargesheeted as accused for circuitous routing of bribe in the 2G scam. Raja, Kanimozhi, Shahid Balwa, Vinod Goenka and Sharad Kumar are also facing trial in the 2G scam case filed by the CBI for the last three years.