Rao Dheeraj Singh knows a lot about Niira Radia. He was her business partner. He later spent almost two years in prison, accused by Radia of kidnapping her son Karan. Speaking exclusively to INDIA TODAY in his first media interaction after the leaking of the Niira Radia tapes, he makes revelations about her business dealings between 1995 and 2002, a period in which Singh was closely associated with Radia’s Crown Mart International (India) Pvt Ltd.
Singh first met Radia in 1994 when he was working as a traffic supervisor with Sahara Airlines. She was a consultant with Sahara. She hired him for her own company, Crown Mart. They moved to Bombay in 1995, where Radia briefly dabbled in films and a hotel business.
Singh recounts his version of what he believes was her first major deal after moving back to Delhi, “In 1997-98 when we moved back to Delhi, Modiluft had gone bust. We were approached by KLM UK who had leased out two aircrafts to Modiluft but they had been impounded because of pending dues to oil companies. KLM UK mandated Crown Mart to handle the court case for them. You know how things work in India. We worked through lawyers. A Delhi court passed the order to release the aircraft. I clearly remember that she received a call that by the next morning, there would be a stay on the order. At that time the UK pilots were all ready and she ensured that the aircraft took off the very same evening. The case carried on but nobody bothered. Our company was paid Rs 2.5 crore to get the aircraft released.”
In what is public knowledge, Radia’s influence began to grow when the BJP-led NDA came to power in 1998 and Ananth Kumar was appointed Union civil aviation minister. Claims Singh, “It was actually in the BJP regime that everything started going right for us. After the KLM UK deal, a lot of companies started approaching her. We sold some helicopters to Sahara. The Airbus Consortium started supporting her. Karnataka and Maharashtra governments were sold Eurocopters. There was a BJP Government in Maharashtra. Radia had a good relationship with Ananth Kumar. He managed the whole thing for us.” Singh claims to recall meeting a senior leader (name withheld) during the Eurocopter deal. “I remember when this Eurocopter deal with the Maharashtra Government was being negotiated, Niira and I went to Nagpur together to meet the leader, who facilitated it,” alleges Singh.
Singh makes damaging allegations about Radia even going to the extent of saying, “Niira used to get a lot of information and then send it to her clients in France and all over the place. At one point, she wanted to get into defence deals as well.”
More deals meant more commissions. “Niira, Karuna (her sister) and I travelled to Zurich to open bank accounts. I can give you my passport as evidence. I can come to Delhi and give you the name of the Zurich bank where the accounts were opened,” claims Singh (Radia is a PIO). He adds, “The money earned from the deals struck between 1998 and 2001 was getting accrued in Zurich and Channel islands. I don’t know the amount but it was substantial.”
We contacted Radia several times to answer these allegations. Instead, she questioned our ‘better judgement’ on carrying statements made by someone she called a ‘convict’. Later, a communication was sent on her behalf denying Singh’s specific allegation on her Swiss Bank accounts.
Singh talks about the one occasion he believes Radia went one-up on Jet Airways promoter Naresh Goyal by allegedly blocking an aircraft deal for Jet. Alleges Singh, “Jet wanted to buy the aircraft. And she managed to get their permission blocked in the civil aviation ministry. Naresh Goyal was never happy with her. So she approached the French aircraft manufacturer ATR and told them that your aircraft will not be given permission because the aviation ministry has blocked it. The French company told us that okay, we will give you money. Naresh Goyal will not talk to you and he will not give you any money. But we will give you the money and you get the aircraft cleared. Rs 1.85 crore was given to us.”
Singh alleges that Radia’s close ties with the BJP Government extended beyond Kumar. “The BJP Government allotted a huge piece of land to Niira’s trust in Vasant Kunj in 2002. L.K. Advani came to lay the foundation stone of the trust.”
On how Radia met Ratan Tata, Singh’s version of events is as follows, “Singapore Airlines wanted to increase their flights to Delhi and Bombay. Niira got the bilateral agreements done for Singapore Airlines. It was around this time that the company put in a word for Niira to Mr Tata.”
Dheeraj says that he began to drift away from Radia at about the time she landed the Tata Group’s PR accounts. It wasn’t smooth. Claims Singh, “There was a sizeable amount of money stuck in Zurich. And a portion of that was to come to me. She owed me Rs 1.2 crore and there was a big argument. She told me there were a lot of problems and she couldn’t get the money back into the country. And a portion of it had to go to a BJP politician as well. Hawala and money laundering were her domain.” These are allegations which need further investigation.
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