2G: Tata denies Balwa charge

The Tata Group denied having a quid pro quo with jailed telecoms minister A Raja to get preferential treatment in the allocation of cellphone airwaves, an allegation levelled by scam-accused businessman Shahid Balwa?s lawyer on Wednesday.

Balwa’s lawyer Vijay Aggarwal had accused Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata of making a donation to a hospital in Raja?s home state Tamil Nadu, which served as a kickback for Tata to get undue advantage during the allocation of telecoms spectrum and licenses in 2008, media reports said.

Aggarwal also accused the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) which is conducting one of the probes into the 2G spectrum scandal of going ?soft? on Tata and being biased towards companies like his client?s.

DB Realty promoter Shahid Balwa had floated Swan Telecom which was one of the companies to allegedly receive telecoms spectrum and licenses at throwaway prices in lieu of kickbacks to former minister A Raja.

Swan Telecom later went on to sell off a 45 percent stake to UAE-based Etisalat for Rs 4,500 crore after biting in into the Indian telecoms industry by paying just Rs 1,537 crore to the government, ripping off large profits.

It also allegedly acted as a front for Reliance Communications, the telecoms company owned by Tata?s rival conglomerate Reliance Anil Dhirbhai Ambani Group.

In court, Balwa?s lawyer Aggarwal accused the CBI of going after companies ?selectively? and backed his allegations against the salt-to-software Tata Group, which also runs Tata Teleservices, by producing letters allegedly indicating a compromise between A Raja and Ratan Tata.

One of the letters, dated Sep 10, 2009 from Raja to Tata reportedly read, ?It was requested that the cheque of the of the entire amount of Rs 20 crore may be made ‘as a special case’ as an upfront payment in the name of the hospital authority…I request you to please look into the matter personally to see that the entire amount of Rs. 20 crore is released to the Government of Tamil Nadu at the earliest…”

While another, dated Sep 15, 2009, reportedly showed Tata’s reply, explaining the delay in sending funds.

?I wish to inform you that we have never made a grant of this size to any external recipient in the Trust’s history…The grant to the Perambalur Hospital was given as a very special case, after considerable deliberation amongst the Trustees, which include independent persons,? the letter, allegedly written by Tata to Raja, said.

The Tata Group, however, denied the charges made by Aggarwal. Even though the hospital in Tamil Nadu approached them for a Rs 20 crore-grant, the huge amount was ultimately not released, they said.

?We are not aware of the contents of the letters produced in the court. It is a fact that Mr RN Tata was approached in 2008-2009 about a grant of Rs 20 crore from Tata Trusts for the Perambalur Medical College Hospital, but that grant was ultimately not given,? the Tata statement said.

?The Trust had received a grant request in July 2007 to support the cost of upgradation of the medical facilities in the Government Hospital in Perambalur together with some taluka hospitals. The grant of Rs. 8 crore was sanctioned against this request,? it added.

The statement further said, ?Of this sanctioned amount, only a sum of Rs 3.26 crore was released by the Trust and spent by the hospital, towards the cost of a CT Scan machine and allied medical equipment to augment its facilities to treat the rural poor.?

In 2008, during his term as the telecoms minister, A Raja purportedly gave away mobile airwaves at throwaway prices to companies including Balwa?s Swan Telecom causing a loss of up to Rs 1.76 crore to the exchequer.

Balwa was accused of paying Raja Rs 214 crore through a Mumbai company called Cineyug Films to Kalaignar TV, a Tamil network owned by family members of the M Karunanidhi, the chief of Raja?s Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party, part of the Congress-led coalition at the Centre.

The case, believed to be the largest corruption scandal of independent India saw the arrest of Raja along with several industrial heavyweights including Balwa, who are both still in custody.