Ramanisblog

Tag: a.raja

  • SUN TV-Aircel Scam-SUNTV nails Maran’s Lie.

    Dayanidhi Maran vehemently denied , in the wake of SUNTV-SUN-DTH Aircel scam, that he or his family had never gained any thing during his tenure as Telecom Minister.

    Facts seem to be other wise.

    Meanwhile a PIL has been filed  against Dayanidhi Maran.

    Senior Supreme Court advocate Prashant Bhushan has filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation inquiry into former telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran”s tenure in the government.

    “It appears that former telecommunications minister Dayanidhi Maran, Rajathi Ammal and Dayalu Ammal (former Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi‘s wives) have not been investigated properly,” Bhushan told DNA. “The affidavit has been filed to bring it to the notice of the court the facts that never saw the light of the day.”

    A report aired by Times Now channel alleged that Maran had misused his powers when he was Telecom Minister. According to the IPO prospectus published by Sun TV on Apr 16, 2006, the company intended to enter the telecom sector, which was then controlled by Maran. The report alleged that the Sun TV, which is controlled by Dayanidhi Maran’s brother Kalanidhi Maran, gained several benefits as Dayanidhi Maran’s names appeared in promoters list.

    http://www.telecomtiger.com/PolicyNRegulation_fullstory.aspx?passfrom=PolicyNRegulation&storyid=11387&section=S174

    What next?

    Resignation,Denials,Arrest, Brahmin-North Conspiracy?

    Earlier while denying the allegations of secret BSNL telephone exchange, Maran said that he “have not done any thing wrong and not benefited anyone” during his tenure as a Telecom minister. But the latest reports clearly shows that Sun TV entered to Telecom sector during the period Maran, who held the telecom ministry from 2004 to 2007.

    Further contradicting Maran’s claim, the report added that Astro All Asia Networks (owned by Maxis) invested Rs 600 crores and announced joint venture with Sun TV in Apr 2007, when Maran was the Telecom Minister. Maxis gained telecom license for Aircel after investing in Sun TV.

    http://news.oneindia.in/2011/06/03/sun-tv-dayanidhi-maran-ipo-enterd-telecom-sector-aid0102.html

    Want to know what was SUNTV’s worth ,shareholding pattern nd sister companies?

    Follow the Link:

    http://www.sebi.gov.in/dp/sunfinal.pdf

  • 2 G Scam,Intimidating Media and Bloggers -DMK Style.

    I have been blogging on Corruption issue , especially on the 2G scam and other swindles by the DMK, for quite some time.

    I Have been getting hate mails calling me names,like’ Brahmin Dog from Bangalore‘.

    For bigger people and companies, the DMK seems to reserve the intimidating tactics of threatening legal notices.

    DMK Chief  was seen indicating of the Sacred Thread of Brahmins(Yagyopaveedham), while defending 2G Scam on TV.

    He has been harping on Brahmin and North Indian Conspiracy for the present cases for quite some time now.

    He has not gone shrill as yet because the present generation has seen through his tactics.

    He is preparing to go all out on North- South divide to regain his popularity.

    Media must be aware of this and telecast his antics in front of the camera to show his true colors.

    A news Channel muted the sound bytes when he was making crude  gestures indicating Brahmins.

    ‘The DMK leaders — including Chief Minister M Karunanidhi — condemned the ”biased attitude” of the Brahmin-dominated journalistic community at Madras. Taking exception to a front-page report in The Hindu on Friday that the Salem conference would anoint his son Stalin as his successor, Karunanidhi said the party was not being run on hereditary lines like newspapers.

    The chief minister even resorted to Brahmin-bashing at his inaugural media conference. Did The Hindu ask how that ”Iyer” got all the money for his frequent Delhi-Madras air trips? ”They only raise questions when a Sandra cuts a tree?” he said, making light of the newspaper’s expose on a DMK legislator’s involvement in sandalwood smuggling.

    Karunanidhi said the ”paarpaans” (a derogatory term for Brahmins) found fault with everything his party and the government did. The reason: He and other DMK leaders did not wear the sacred thread.’

    http://www.rediff.com/news/jul/02dmk.htm

     

    In this connection it is advisable not to be carried away by trying to reply these allegations.We should remain focussed on Corruption without bothering about personal attacks as this would deflect the corruption.

    Whether Brahmin or North Indian,Corruption is Corruption.

    Let us fight in our own way.

    In this connection Tehelka’s reply to Dayanidhi Maran‘s  Legal Notice is worth of note.

    Unfortunately, Mr Maran’s arguments are not only weak but factually insupportable and a mere sleight of hand. Contrary to his assertions, M/S Astro, a Maxis Group company, announced a joint venture with Sun Direct TV in February 2007, barely three months after Aircel, owned by Maxis, had been awarded 14 lucrative licences. In fact, the Foreign Investment and Promotion Board and Ministry of Information and Broadcasting gave Astro the required approval to acquire 20 percent in Sun Direct (owned by Dayanidhi’s brother Kalanidhi and his wife) on 2 March and 19 March 2007 – while Mr Maran was very much the telecom minister.

    While it is true that Mr Maran then resigned on 13 May 2007, it is clear the apparent quid pro quo had already been set in motion while he was in office. What’s more, Mr Maran could not have forseen that he was going to have to resign as telecom minister in May because his resignation was triggered by a sudden family feud and his loss of favour with DMK supremo Karunaidhi, when the latter suspected the Maran brothers of creating a rift between his sons Azhagiri and Stalin.

    Astro’s 20 percent investment in Sun TV at a cost of Rs 315.71 crore – a process begun in February/March 2007 — was completed in December 2007. It then continued to invest further in Sun TV over January 2008 – December 2009. For Mr Maran to argue that he was no longer telecom minister is just sophistry.

    His assertion that he does not possess any shares in Sun TV is also sophistry as there is a clear conflict of interest when a businessman who had benefitted from him invests close to 700 crore in his brother’s company. (Former telecom minister A Raja was sent to jail for much less as Kaliagnar TV belonged to the DMK supremo’s family and Raja was not even directly related to any of its owners.)

    http://www.tehelka.com/story_main49.asp?filename=Ws310511maran.asp

  • 2G Scam Leads to SUN TV ,Maran and Aircel.

    Tehelka exposed the shenanigans of Maran and Maran has come out with a defense ‘ there was no loss to the government during his tenure as Union telecom minister, Maran said he was not even a minister when Astroinvested in Sun TV Network. “I own no shares or interest in Sun TV Network,” .

    He is said to have issued notice to Tehelka, which is nothing but legal non sense with no substance and facts.

    Watch.

    Same argument as that of Raja .

    Is Ananda Krishnan a front for Maran?

    Facts seem to speak differently.

    According to sources, the CBI has now trained its guns on a strikingly similar deal — though the quantum is almost four times that of the Balwa-Kalaignar transaction — between Sun TV Group, owned by the family of Union Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran, and Malaysian business conglomerate Maxis Group and owner of 74 percent direct equity in Aircel Group, the country’s seventh biggest telecom operator….

    In November 2006, then Telecom Minister Maran granted 14 (UASL) for Aircel. The licence, along with the startup 2G spectrum, was awarded at the same price at which later Raja gave away 2G licenses to Swan, Unitech and a host of other players in 2008 — Aircel paid Rs 1,399 crore for 14 telecom circles, the price was arrived at through an auction process in 2001 when the telecom industry was in its nascent stage.

    The telecom licences to Aircel were awarded after about two years of ‘unwarranted’ delay on the part of the DoT headed by Maran at the time. Aircel’s applications for new circles were pending since Maran’s takeover as minister for communications and IT in May 2004. According to the report prepared by the one-man committee of Justice (retired) Shivraj Patil constituted to examine the appropriateness of procedures followed by DoT in issuing licences during the period 2001-2009, the DoT kept raising ‘irrelevant’, ‘vague’ and ‘unwarranted’ queries about different aspects related to Aircel and kept the applications pending (Patil submitted his report to present Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal on 31 January)….

    It was only after March 2006, when Malaysian business tycoon T Ananda Krishnan, whose parents were Sri Lankan Tamils, bought 74 percent stake in Aircel, that its file gained momentum. Until then the company was owned by C Sivasankaran, the chairman of Siva Group (earlier known as Sterling Infotech Group). Krishnan paid Rs 3,390.82 crore for 74 percent equity in Aircel. Today, Aircel is the seven biggest telecom operator in the country with its net worth valued in the range of $7.5-$8 billion…

    Six months after Ananda Krishnan’s takeover of Aircel, the ministry granted Aircel the much-vaunted licences in 14 cash-rich circles. This took Aircel from a small regional player to a pan-India operator. If the CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General) valuation of 2G licences is taken as a yardstick, the value of Aircel licences cleared by Maran would amount to approximately Rs 22,000 crore. But Aircel paid just Rs 1,399 crore…

    And in a curious coincidence, in February 2007, four months after the licences were granted to Aircel, Ananda Krishnan through one of his group companies, South Asia Entertainment Holding Ltd (SAEHL) invested $150 million (roughly Rs 600 crore) in a phased manner in Sun Direct TV Pvt Ltd by acquiring 20 percent equity in the company owned and run by Dayanidhi’s brother Kalanidhi and his wife Kaveri Maran. The equity investment was cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs…

    Almost simultaneously, the Maran family was allotted about 12.6 crore additional equity shares in Sun Direct TV to maintain their total equity at 80 percent. But unlike the staggering rate at which the Maxis Group picked up the Sun Direct shares, the allotment to the Marans was made at par value of Rs 10 per share without charging any premium…

    Maran’s Note( confidential)

    Between February 2008 and July 2009, the Maxis Group invested Rs 100 crore more in another Maran family-owned company named South Asia FM Ltd which owns Sun FM radio network. Maxis Group subsidiary South Asia Multimedia Technologies Limited (SAMT) invested Rs 50 crore in equity of South Asia FM Ltd and Rs 43.9 crore in preference shares of SAFL.

    The million-dollar question is, do Maxis- Sun TV and Maxis-Sun FM deals qualify as quid pro quo on similar lines as the Rs 200 crore Balwa-Kalaignar deal? Both the deals materialised soon after the respective telecom companies were granted the UAS licences and with it the precious 2G spectrum. And in both the cases it’s the companies owned by the extended Karunanidhi family that benefited…

    Total Investment Of Maxis In Aircel
    Amount (In Crores) Remarks
    Equity Shares Of Aircel 3,379 For 65% Equity In Aircel
    Equity Shares Of Deccan Digital 11.82 For 9% Stake In Aircel (Through 26% Stake In Deccan)
    Preference Shares Of Aircel 2,846 For 100% Preference Shares Holding In Aircel
    Preference Shares Of Deccan 1,644 For 100% Preference Shares Holding In Deccan
    Total 7,880.82

     

    Sivasankaran Arm-twisted into selling Aircel to malaysia-based Maxis group?
    So was C Sivasankaran, the chairman of Siva Group (erstwhile known as Sterling Infotech Group), a $3 billion conglomerate with interests in realty, telecom, shipping, energy and software, harassed by Maran? Was he pressurised into selling his telecom company, Aircel Ltd, to Malaysian billionaire Ananda Krishnan? Sivasankaran got $800 million for selling his company to Maxis. At the time of the sale, Aircel was operating in only nine circles while its applications for seven circles were lying in limbo. Also, it is reliably known that Aircel wanted to apply for more circles but didn’t do so simply because their old applications were still lying in abeyance. If Aircel was sold after these licences were granted, the company’s net worth would have increased and thus Sivasankaran could have got more money from the sale. Today, Aircel is a pan- India operator, thanks to the 14 licences given by Maran, and is valued in the range of $7.5-$8 billion…

    http://www.tehelka.com/story_main49.asp?filename=Ne040611Coverstory.asp

    Source: Tehelka.

  • 2G Scam-Karunanidhi’s Nephew Implicates Kanimozhi.

    Behind Every Fortune, there is Crime-Balzac.

    -Also Betrayal.

    Legal Wife Vs Concubine.

    New Delhi, May 10: It seems that Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi‘s own kin has played the role of Bibhishan (In the Ramayana, Ravana‘s brother Bibhishan ditched the Lanka king and helped Rama in the war to rescue Sita) to nail down the CM’s daughter Kanimozhi.

    ….43-year-old Kanimozhi, a Rajya Sabha MP, claimed that she wasn’t involved in the Kalaignar TV‘s “day-to-day affairs”. During the court proceedings, Kanimozhi, who holds 20 percent stake in the TV channel, said, “I was not involved with the day-to-day affairs of the channel. I did not sign any document to facilitate the transfer of the alleged bribe of Rs 200 crore from DB Realty to Kalaignar TV. I never attended a single board meeting of the channel. (Channel CEO Sharad) Kumar chaired all the meetings and he was signatory to all the agreements.”

    ….However, claiming Karunanidhi’s daughter’s statement a sham, his nephew P Amirtham informed, “Kanimozhi was a founder-director of Kalaignar TV. She resigned on Jun 20, 2007, from the board because the necessary clearances from the ministry of home affairs (because she is an MP) were delayed. Nevertheless, she used to take keen interest in day-to-day affairs of the company.”

    http://news.oneindia.in/2011/05/10/kanimozhi-active-kalaignar-deal-karuna-kin-2g-scam-aid0101.html

  • 2G-Criminal Conspiracy Charge against Essar,Reliance Communications?

    Wordmark of Essar. Trademarked by Essar.
    Image via Wikipedia

    For those who have been following 2G scam,I have found some additional information on the subject through

    http://soniajaspal.wordpress.com/2011/04/17/weekly-roundup-%E2%80%93-17-april-2011-2g-telecom-scam-story/

    Story:

    The CBI will charge India’s top conglomerates the Essar Group and Relaince ADAG with criminal conspirary and cheating in the multi billion dollar 2G Telecom Licenses Scandal.This Corruption Scam was brought directly under the control of the Supreme Court as the government failed to move against powerful businessmen and politicians.Now the investigative agencies which have broken free from the ruling party’s interference have given the status of the investigation to the Court.The CBI has said that the 2 companies Loop and Swan Telecom were used as front companies by established telecom operators Essar and Reliance Communications to get more license.Note this defeated the entire exercise and there is ample circumstantial evidence to prove that the telecom minister Raja and his cronies connived with the companies to give precious spectrum for a song.Massive kickbacks were given through real estate companies like DB Realty whose top billionaire owners are cooling their heels in jail as well.

    It remains to be seen whether the top corporate executives of India’s topmost conglomerates get prosecuted over these wrongdoings.Essar and ADAG are amongst the top 10 conglomerates in India with wide ranging operations with billions of dollars in revenues nationally as well as internationally.The Supreme Court has been instrumental in bringing this case so far as the government seems totally coopted by corruption.It has been frequently been castigated by the Supreme Court and has shamelessly defended corrupt bureaucrats and politicians.It remains to be seen how this 2G Telecom Case ends.If justice is done,then it may provide a new chapter to India’s corruption ridden story till now.

    http://greenworldinvestor.com/2011/03/29/cbi-2g-telecom-scandal-criminal-conspiracycheating-charge-against-essarreliance-communicationswill-sc-throw-top-executives-in-jail-like-raja/

    Related:

    Sitaram’s letter had identified three elements in the telecom scam. One was of course giving away 122 licenses at 2001 prices in 2008. In 2001, there were barely 4 million mobile subscribers as against 300 million subscribers in 2008. With this expansion of the telecom market, using 2001 prices in 2008 was nothing but providing largesses to friends and relations. While the media focussed on this aspect of the scam, there were also two other components. One was the conversion of CDMA licenses to Unified Access Services (UAS), by virtue of which Reliance and Tata entered the GSM based mobile services. The third was the extra spectrum that the existing operators had hogged beyond their originally sanctioned amount. The table below summarises the amounts computed by the CPI(M) as in the letter to PM by Sitaram Yechury and the computations by CAG.

    Item

    Approx. Amount

    CAG Calculations

    Loss due to 122 licenses for new entrants in 2008

    Rs. 124,000 crore

    Rs. 102,498 crore

    Loss due to cross-over licenses permitted to CDMA operators (Dual Technology License)

    36,000 crore

    Rs. 37,154 crore

    Estimated loss due to excess spectrum occupied by the GSM operators beyond allotted 6.2 MHz

    Rs. 30,000 crore

    Rs 36,729 crore

    Total

    Rs.190,000 crore

    Rs 1,76,379 crore

    These figures are now longer conjectures of experts or figures computed by people who could be accused of being critical of the Government. These are figures worked out by a bunch of government auditors who had access to the files of the Department of Telecom and have come to their independent conclusions.

    Who were the major beneficiaries of the scam? As the CAG Report makes clear, not only were the new licenses for 2G undervalued, but certain parties picked out for special favours. Swan and Unitech, the two real estate companies, were particular favourites. The second set of beneficiaries were the CDMA license holders — Reliance and Tata — who were given cross-over licenses for the bigger GSM market. The third were those GSM operators – Vodafone and Bharati in particular — who were holding spectrum well-beyond their original allotted spectrum.

    The CAG report has also substantiated the charges made in the letter that Sitaram Yechury had written regarding violations of TRAI recommendations and disregarding the advise of other Ministries. The Report states, “The entire process of spectrum allocation was undertaken in an arbitrary manner. The Hon’ble Prime Minister had stressed on the need for a fair and transparent allocation of spectrum, and the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Law and Justice had sought for the decision regarding spectrum pricing to be considered by an EGoM. Brushing aside these concerns and advices, the Department of Telecommunications, in 2008, proceeded to issue 122 new licences for 2G spectrum at 2001 prices, thus flouting all rules and procedures to be followed in a parliamentary democratic set up. The process followed for spectrum allocation was also unfair, considering the fact that DoT did not follow its own guidelines on eligibility conditions, arbitrarily changed the cut off date for receipt of applications post facto and altered the conditions of the FCFS (first-come first-served) procedure it had been following, gave unfair advantage of certain companies over others thus creating an environment which can not be perceived as transparent and fair.”

    As the CAG Report makes clear, the manipulations to the stated first-come first-served policies were done to benefit certain parties. It again substantiates what Yechury had brought out in his May letter to the PM. The original first-come first-served had the application date as defining who are first-come. On Jan 10, 2010 this was changed to who fulfils LOI conditions first amongst the parties selected. CAG states, “Thus DoT deviated from its declared FCFS (first-cum-first-served) policy though MOCIT (Minister of Communications & IT) maintained that it was continuing ‘with the policy for processing of applications’

    http://www.newsclick.in/india/cag-report-raja-has-no-clothes