While Karunanidhi has become a Super Judge and been picking up mathematical holes in Jayalalithaa Assets case, forgetting the 2 G Scam, involving ₹1766.45 billion (US$28 billion)g his daughter, his A.Raja and the others, the Home Ministry of India is contemplating not to renew the licence to SUN TV Network for its involvement in the 2 G Spectrum scam.
SUN Network Logo.
For threadbare expose of of the spectrum scam, including Radia, Kanimozhi Jaffer Sait Tapes,PMO Documents please check under Corruption, Radia Tapes.
I stopped writing on the scams as I was fed up.
I am posting this lest Karunanidhi and Co may not feel people have forgotten it .
Let him not talk of Morality .
“New Delhi: The Union Home Ministry may not grant licence to Kalanithi Maran-promoted Sun TV Network’s group companies for alleged involvement of its owners in 2G spectrum scam and Aircel Maxis cases before various courts and investigating agencies.
The stand is likely to be communicated to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry as Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Arun Jaitley had written a letter to Home MinisterRajnath Singh on the issue, official sources said in New Delhi.
The company operates 45 radio channels under the brand name Suryan FM in Tamil Nadu and Red FM in rest of the country.
The Home Ministry said the company and its owners were allegedly involved in 2G scam, alleged bungling in Aircel-Maxis deal as well as running an “illegal” connections of telephones used for uploading their content, the sources said.
The company of Kalanithi, who is the brother of former union minister Dayanidhi Maran, had sought renewal of licence of its radio channels from one phase to another.
Under the switchover of phase, the company could operate more channels in the same bandwidth.’
Earlier I blogged on the fact that Dayanidhi maran, former Telecom Minister and Grand nephew of DMK Supremeo, Karunanidhi and Brother of Kalaanidhi Maran who controls SUN TV Group.
Now the CBI has deposed before the JPC that it has evidence that Dayanidhi Maran had received the Bribe from Astro All Asia Net Woks Plc-Rs. 549.96 Crore by way of investment in SUN DTH at an inflated rate.
Astro All Asia Net Woks Plc is a related company of Maxis Communication.
CBI is reported to have quizzed Dayanidhi Maran last week on this and he is reported to have replied in writing.
What is of note is that this action comes just after The Presidential Election and new alignments are in the offing for the next General Elections.
Story:
The CBI has recently questioned the former Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran in connection with a case against him, his brother Kalanithi Maran and Malaysian business tycoon and head of Maxis Communications T. Ananda Krishnan of allegedly coercing the former owner of Aircel Televentures C. Sivasankaran into selling his equity in Aircel.
Mr. Dayanidhi Maran allegedly denied Mr. Sivasankaran’s firm seven pending 2G spectrum licences in various circles, and the Point of Interconnection facility from the state-owned BSNL.
The CBI alleged that an illegal gratification of Rs. 549.96 crore accrued to the Maran brothers from the purchase of Sun Direct TV shares by Astro All Asia Networks Plc, a related company of Maxis Communications, allegedly at a “highly inflated” rate.
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…..
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…”
Ex FBI Chief Freech is reported to have helped CBI to meet Sivasankaran to record the written statement of NRI businessman and Chairman of the Sterling Group, C Shivasankaran, shortly.
Let us see what Maran has to say on this.
The role of the NRI businessman could be critical to the next stage of investigations in the 2G scam. This is because Textiles Minister and former telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran is currently under attack for being in an A Raja-like situation to allegedly favour the Malasiya-based Maxis Group and its proprieter Ananda Krishnan in the award of 14 UASL licences for his company, Aircel.
And it was Shivasankaran, who in 2005 — after his applications for more licences were reportedly put in cold storage by the Telecom Ministry — sold his entire stake in Aircel to Maxis and their Indian partner, the Reddy family of Apollo Hospital with a 74% and 26% equity respectively.
The deal was struck for $1.08 billion and within a short time, all pending applications of Aircel were cleared by the Ministry along with seven more. Maran and Maxims now face allegations of…
a quid pro quo since months after the grant of new licences, group companies of Ananda Krishnan reportedly put in $150 million (approximately Rs 600 crore) into DMK-owned Sun TV.
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…
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…
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