Suresh Kalmadi arrested

Kalmadi arrested by CBI in CWG scam case

Suresh Kalmadi has been arrested - a formal announcement is likely this afternoon - for allowing and in some cases inducing corruption in the Commonwealth Games that were held in India in October last year.

Mr Kalmadi was interrogated this morning by the CBI for the fourth time about a slate of contracts that saw the most expensive firms being hired for equipment and services. These include conspiring with a Swiss firm that supplied the Timing-Scoring-Results System (TSR) for the Games at exorbitant rates.

Mr Kalmadi served as the Chairman of the Organising Committee that has been drenched in corruption charges. Team Kalmadi was allegedly in the habit of handing out contracts to firms that provided equipment or services at exorbitant rates; reasonable bids from other firms were allegedly ignored.

Several of Mr Kalmadi's closest aides have already been arrested- including Lalit Bhanot, who served as the Secretary General of the Organizing Committee and V K Verma who was its Director General.

While Mr Kalmadi's own role has long been suspect, the CBI believes it finally has enough evidence to prove his corruption. "Better late than never," was the official response of the BJP to the news of Mr Kalmadi's arrest. In November, Mr Kalmadi, who is a heavyweight Congress politician from Pune, was fired as the Secretary of the Congress Parliamentary Party.

The Queen's Baton Relay which kickstarted the Games was held in London in September 2009. A London-based firm named AM Films was hired by Mr Kalmadi to provide taxis, portable toilets and massive public TV screens for the ceremony. Mr Kalmadi sanctioned transfers of huge amounts of cash to AM Films and its owner, Ashish Patel, even though there was no signed contract.

Mr Kalmadi later told NDTV that because London officials had requested equipment at the last minute, he did not have the time to process a contract. AM Films charged phenomenal amounts for its services. The financial track record of Mr Patel proved to be dubious. And then emails surfaced that showed Mr Kalmadi's close aides instructing Mr Patel for what rates to charge the Committee.

A team from the CBI has reportedly met with Mr Patel in London, and is encouraging him to turn approver. It has also discovered that three other bids made by other UK firms for the Queen's Baton Relay function were forged - most likely in an attempt to prove that due process had been followed in considering offers from a series of companies.

Mr Kalmadi's associates had first said that AM Films had been suggested as a potential contractor by the Indian High Commission in London. It was soon proved that the emails brandished by the Organizing Committee to prove this were doctored.

CBI to question Kanimozhi before March 31

2G scam: Kanimozhi to be questioned by CBI.

Kanimozhi - a DMK MP and daughter of Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi - will be questioned by the CBI before March 31 in connection with the 2G spectrum scam, well informed sources said Thursday.

"Her questioning is imminent. Kanimozhi will be questioned before March 31," a top Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) official told IANS.

The CBI sources said Kanimozhi would be summoned for questions related to the flow of over Rs.200 crore from Swan Telecom promoter Shahid Balwa's DB Realty firm to Kalaignar TV, a regional Tamil channel in which Karunanidhi's family members allegedly have a majority stake. Kanimozhi alone is said to have 20 percent stake in the TV channel.

Balwa is one of the accused in the scam and his Swan Telecom was allegedly favoured by former communications minister and DMK MP A. Raja in the allocation of second generation (2G) spectrum licences.

CBI is probing if there was any quid pro quo under which Balwa transferred funds to the TV channel and in return got 2G spectrum licences at throwaway prices. Balwa is already in jail along with Raja.

CBI has been asked by the Supreme Court to file charges in the case by March 31 and the sources said Kanimozhi's examination is important for finalising the chargesheet.

The sources said Sharat Kumar, managing director of Kalaignar TV, would also be questioned in the next couple of days as he has already been summoned by the CBI March 8. Kumar has denied the flow of funds from Balwa's company.

The sources, however, ruled out the questioning of Karunanidhi's second wife Dayalu Ammal as she is believed to be a "sleeping partner" in the channel and "won't fetch any information".

2G scam: CBI chief to appear before PAC

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Director A P Singh will appear before the Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) today to give evidence in connection with the allocation of 2G spectrum.

The PAC, headed by BJP veteran M. M. Joshi, has so far gathered evidence from former Telecom Secretaries S. S. Behura and D. S. Mathur, former TRAI chairman Pradip Baijal, former Member (Finance) of Telecom Commission Manju Madhvan and RBI Governor D. Subbarao, who was Finance Secretary when the 2G allocations were made in January 2008.

The CBI on Monday extended the custody of A Raja for three more days and Balwa for four more days.

Both Raja and Balwa were arrested for their alleged involvement in the 2G Spectrum allotment scam.

The two were made to face each other and answer questions relating to the grant of licence and undue favours extended to the company during 2008.

Earlier, the Supreme Court asked the government to constitute a special court to deal exclusively with the 2G spectrum scam.

The CBI told the apex court that it would file the first chargesheet in the 2G scam against A Raja and others under Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA) for cheating and forgery by March 31.

The apex court said it favours a CBI investigation that also covers culpability of beneficiaries of the scam, as they are part of a larger conspiracy.

In its remand application, the CBI said Balwa's company Swan Telecom (a part of the Mumbai-based DB Realty) allegedly got favours in the spectrum allocation and caused the national exchequer a loss of over Rs.22,000 crore.

It also said Balwa allegedly conspired with private companies to sell to a Gulf firm at a huge profit the 2G spectrum licences Swan Telecom acquired at a cheap rate.

Raja was forced to resign from the Union Cabinet last year after the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) faulted him for undervaluing spectrum to favour companies who were largely ineligible for 2G spectrum, and added that the government had probably lost Rs.1.76 lakh crore in estimated revenue.

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