CBI, ED set to grill Raja on 2G soon
The CBI and the Enforcement Directorate are getting ready to question former communications minister A. Raja following the recovery of some allegedly incriminating documents on the stake held by his family members in a Chennai-based company. These documents, belonging to a Chennai-based company, show “massive financial irregularities”, sources in the CBI revealed. The investigative agency denied rumours that Mr Raja had been questioned on Friday itself. “We have not yet questioned Raja. But he will be subjected to formal questioning very soon,” a senior CBI official said.
It might be recalled that the Enforcement Directorate is also looking into alleged financial transactions by Mr Raja and some close associates through the hawala channels. The ED had earlier interrogated top corporate lobbyist Niira Radia on suspected money-laundering issues and possible violations of the Foreign Exchange Management Act. The investigative agencies are also looking into the Radia tapes, in which conversations between the lobbyist and politicians and senior journalists had been recorded. The agencies could also summon the journalists involved for questioning. The tapes indicated that Ms Radia had been lobbying with the journalists and some so-called “power brokers” to help get Mr Raja chosen as communications minister in the Manmohan Singh government.
[The multiple agencies investigating the politically-sensitive 2G spectrum scam have formed a “prima facie” view that the conversations of Niira Radia with various persons as recorded by the income-tax department might amount to “criminal conspiracy” against the nation. This was stated in an affidavit submitted to the Supreme Court by the government on Friday. The affidavit, filed by the additional director, income-tax (investigations), in response to industrialist Ratan Tata’s petition seeking a probe into the “leak” of the Radia tapes to the media, referred to the correspondence between the DG (I-T) and the heads of the Intelligence Bureau, Central Bureau of Investigation and the Central Board of Direct Taxes to draw such conclusions.]
Sources in the CBI, meanwhile, said: “After initial scrutiny of the seized documents, CBI officials are now probing the alleged stake of Raja’s family members and close relatives in the Chennai-based company.” They added that if needed officials may also question Mr Raja’s family members. Till now, officials in the department of telecom whose houses had been raided have been questioned by the CBI.
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