Chennai, Dec. 10: CBI investigators who had raided the premises of the former telecom minister, Mr A. Raja, and his associates in the Spectrum scam are aghast at the brazen manner in which the ex-minister floated enterprises, mostly real estate, and had his family members as directors.
Records show that Mr Raja had launched Green House Promoters Private Limited barely four months after he became a cabinet minister in May 2004. “The firm was started with an initial investment of `1 lakh with his close friend Mr Sadhick Batcha as the managing director,” official sources said.
Mr Raja’s family members enrolled as directors of the same firm a little later. “During early 2007 Mr Raja’s wife M.A. Parameswari was also added to the board as one of the directors,” sources said.
Later during 2008, when a section of the media pulled up the then home minister, Mr Shivraj Patil, for using his official address as the business address of his son, Mr Raja’s wife resigned from of the firm after transferring her shares to a niece.
“Over the last four years, Green House Promoters’ accounts at a nationalised bank in Chennai made remittances of more than `150 crores,” a source said.