Rs200 cr to Kalaignar TV was no loan

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The CBI charge sheet nailing chief minister M. Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanimozhi in the spectrum case demolishes his contention that the Rs200 crore given by Cineyug Films Pvt Ltd to family-owned Kalaignar TV was a transparent transaction for acquisition of stake in the channel.

The investigators found there were no documents to back such a claim and that there was much ‘window dressing’ as an ‘after-thought’ to create the façade of a genuine business transaction, the CBI said.

The accused persons had claimed that Cineyug transferred the funds to Kalaignar TV so as to acquire 32-35% of total equity, said the CBI, adding, “Investigation has revealed this plea to be false, as no valid agreement to this effect was entered into by the said companies.”

Later, when the CBI registered the criminal case on spectrum, the amount was shown as a loan but then, “no valid agreement was signed between any of the parties and no collaterals/securities were ensured to secure the alleged loan amounts.’

The “dubious” transfer of funds from Cineyug was neither for purchase of stake in Kalaignar TV, in which Ms Kanimozhi was “an active brain” with 20 per cent stake, nor a loan to the channel but “in the nature of illegal gratification paid in lieu of the UAS licenses, valuable spectrum and other undue benefits given by the accused public servants to M/s Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd,” said the CBI charge sheet.

The ‘accused public servants’ included the arrested minister A. Raja, with whom Ms Kanimozhi had a “strong association” in “official/political matters”, as demonstrated by her keen interest in getting him the job as the communication minister, the CBI said.

Illustrating that the money transfer to Kalaignar TV was a quid pro quo for the spectrum allocation, the CBI said as soon as it began its probe and summoned Mr Raja for questioning, the channel started returning the Rs200 crore in installments to Cineyug, from where the money flowed back to Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables and from there to Dynamix Realty and DB Realty. The entire transaction sans proper documentation defied “common sense and normal business practices”.

“In fact, the date when the refund started - December 23, 2010 - coincides with the date the accused A. Raja (A-1) was asked to join investigation at CBI office on 24.12.2010 and 25.12.2010.

The major chunk of funds was refunded after 25.01.2011, that is Rs65 crore on 24.01.2011, Rs25 crore on 29.01.2011 and Rs50 crore on 03.02.2011.” This regrouping of funds “is clearly an act of window-dressing and an afterthought,” CBI said.

It said even if the defence of the accused persons that the Rs200 crore transaction among Dynamix Realty, Kusegaon Fruits & Vegetables, Cineyug Films and Kalaignar TV were genuine business transactions in the nature of loan/advances, is accepted, it is established that Mr Raja being a public servant in conspiracy with Sharad Kumar (MD, Kalaignar TV) and Ms Kanimozhi Karunanidhi (A-17), had “obtained a loan of Rs200 crore for Kalaignar TV for a consideration which they knew to be inadequate from Shahid Balwa (A-4) and Vinod Goenka (A-5), the promoters of Swam Telecom to which A-1 (Raja) and other public servants had allotted UAS licenses, valuable spectrum and other undue favours in 2008-09.”