New Delhi: DMK leader Kanimozhi's chartered accountant has been questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with the 2G spectrum scam. Ratnam, who is also the chartered accountant for DMK chief M Karunanidhi's third wife Rajathi Ammal, was grilled by CBI officials on Monday.
The investigating agency also questioned former telecom minister A Raja's chartered accountant V Ganpathy over the Voltas land deal. The land deal is being investigated by the CBI as part of the multi-crore 2G probe.
CNN-IBN has accessed documents that exposed the links of a close aide to Kanimozhi in a multi crore land deal involving a landmark plot in Chennai where TATA group company Voltas has its building and office. This is a deal which took place between 2008 and 2009 and something CBI sources say they are investigating as part of the 2G probe.
Close to 53,000 square feet on Chennai's arterial Anna Salai, this land is estimated to be worth over Rs 200 crore. Owned jointly till 2009 by 17 people it was leased out to Voltas in 1975, after which the company invested in this landmark building.
But between April and August 2008, all the 17 people who jointly own the land gave a power of attorney to S Saravanan. He is known to be an aide of Kanimozhi and Ammal. He was made the de facto owner of the land.
On April 27, 2009 Saravanan executed the sale of the land to a company called Shangkalpam Industries Pvt Ltd for a sum of Rs 25 crore - much below the market value which is estimated at around Rs 200 crore. This deal took place days before Tamil Nadu went to the polls in the 2009 General elections.
Voltas's lease over the property expired in 2005 but it continues operating out of the plot. Case no. 848 of 2006 which the company filed for an extension of the lease is pending at the Madras High court. It was last listed in 2006, none of the 18 respondents even received their notices and conveniently no one pursued it actively.
These documents prove that a man known to be close to Kanimozhi's family was the key player in a multi-crore land deal involving a large tract of land where a TATA group company Voltas, has a large interest.
Moreover, on June 13, 2009 one of the alleged phone conversations between corporate lobbyist for the TATA's Nira Radia with Kanimozhi's mother Rasathi Ammal was about a land deal - raising questions over whether it was the Voltas deal that was discussed.
Comments
0 comment