Cheques nailed Kanimozhi in 2G

Payments made to DB Realty in the form of cheques turned out to be the 'lucky' break the CBI was looking for to trace the money trail back to DMK MP Kanimozhi in the telecom scam

Cheques nailed Kanimozhi in 2G

Payments made to DB Realty in the form of cheques turned out to be the 'lucky' break theu00a0CBI was looking for to trace the money trail back to DMK MP Kanimozhi in the telecom scam

It was sheer "luck" for the CBI to have traced the vital Rs 214 crore money trail in the 2G spectrum case allegedly linking DMK MP Kanimozhi with one of the accused companies, DB Realty, as the payments took place through cheques, top officials said.

Kanimozhi, an MP and daughter of DMK Chief M Karunanidhi, has become the latest powerful public figure to be sent to jail in connection with the 2G scam

It is very difficult to unearth the money trail in such cases of alleged corruption as a lot of 'benami' transactions take place which are nearly impossible to attribute to a particular individual, they said.

"It was pure luck that we came across these transactions which were done through cheques. These helped us to fit the pieces of the jig-saw puzzle," one of the CBI officials said.

The officials said the agency has "so far" not detected any "quid pro quo" in the spectrum allocation scam except the alleged financial transaction between Kalaignar TV, in which Kanimozhi has a 20 per cent stake, and Cineyug, but is working on certain leads as the investigation is underway.

A team of CBI officials will be visiting Mauritius, which might give an insight into the money trail in the scam and may bring to light other instances of bribe moneyu00a0 having changed hands.

On the issue of Janta Party President Subramanian Swamy's claims that the agency is ignoring the national security issues in the spectrum allocation scam, officials said "certain" areas concerning national security are being looked into.

About the case of corporate lobbyist Niira Radia's alleged role, they said the agency has found nothing indicating her involvement in the 2G spectrum scam but she has not yet been cleared.

The agency is probing whether she had a role in some "peripheral" issues, like the Voltas Land deal. They said none of the alleged actors of the scam have been given a clean chit and the probe is still going on.

Sources said the agency will soon start investigation into the telecom spectrum allocations done between 2001 and 2007.

Nailu00a0CWG too: BJP
Welcoming the arrest of DMK MP Kanimozhi in the 2G spectrum allocation case, the BJP yesterday said this was possible only because the case was monitored by the Supreme Court and demanded that it also oversee cases related to corruption in Commonwealth Games.

"DMK MP Kanimozhi's bail plea was rejected today. These arrests and actions have been taken in the 2G case as the Supreme Court is monitoring the CBI inquiry," BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said.

"Other scams have also come to light and the Supreme Court should monitor the inquiry into them," he said.
Javadekar specifically mentioned the Commonwealth Games, maintaining that though the V K Shunglu Committee had indicted Delhi Chief Minister Shiela Dikshit, no action had been taken against her so far.