Raja stashed bribe money abroad using wife’s a/c: Report

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, March 02: With every passing day the CBI is tightening its noose against former telecom minister A Raja, who is now believed to have used his wife’s bank accounts in Mauritius and Seychelles to deposit part of the Rs 3000 crore bribe money, which he received as bribe from telecom companies for the preferential allotment of 2G spectrum.

As per a report published in an English newspaper, Wednesday, the CBI has issued a Letters Rogatory (LRs) to the top banking authorities of both the island nations, which provided it the details confirming a quid pro quo between the DMK leader and the telecom companies favoured by him in getting 2G spectrum license.

The LRs were sent soon after the central probe agency lodged an FIR in connection with the 2G spectrum allocation scam in October 2009, the report said.

Incidentally, this happened much before the Supreme Court started probing its investigation into the alleged scam.

A Raja is alleged to have received Rs 3,000 crores in bribes by favouring certain telecom players, in contravention of the first-come first-served policy. The CBI also believes that the entire 2G scam could have caused a loss of Rs 45,000-50,000 crores to the state’s exchequer.

As of now, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and other agencies, probing the spectrum scam, will soon issue LRs to as many as 10 countries to get more leads about the flow of foreign funds in the telecom sector and the money sent to tax heavens abroad by the prime suspects in the spectrum case.

If the sources are to be believed, the CBI has so far conducted preliminary inquiry in Singapore, Mauritius, Cyprus, Dubai (UAE), Moscow ( Russia), Norway, Isle of Man, Jersy Island and British Virgin Island.

The sources in the ED have also indicated that money involved in the spectrum scam was first invested in little known companies in these countries and then routed back to India either as Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) or as payoffs.

Yesterday, CBI had informed the Supreme Court that it had questioned 63 persons including an MP, CEOs and promotors of 10 mobile service providers who got spectrum during Raja’s tenure, and department of telecom (DoT) officials.

The CBI is due to file a chargesheet against the prime suspects on or before March 31, however, the ED had last month sought time till June to complete its probe under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).