Two-G (2G) Spectrum Scam Tapes and follow-up

SwamyG · Post by **SwamyG** » 19 Nov 2010 21:47

RoyG wrote:Anybody get the feeling that MMS might just resign and that Rahul baba might just take over soon?

Yesterday, I told my friend exactly this. Rahul will be the prince charming, clean guy who came to rescue India. MMS has been going through one chakra vyuha after one, and managing to stay alive. An arrow or a mace is going to topple him from his seat.

Tanaji · Post by **Tanaji** » 19 Nov 2010 21:48

Basically, Raja did not give any share to TRAI chairman, and so TRAI wants a share in the pie. Ditto with SCjs. SCjs too want a share from Raja/DMK.

Incorrect. TRAI should have spoken up earlier when the licenses itself was granted which is its mandate. The fact that they did not, means either it was ordered not to, or paid off or is grossly incompetent. None of these options are heartening.

The real question is given that Reliance, Swan and Uninor have found to be flouting established rules, what action will TRAI take on Reliance? A simple cancellation of license is not enough, there has to be punitive action.

SwamyG · Post by **SwamyG** » 19 Nov 2010 21:53

The words "accidented" & "suicided" have the unique Indian English charm. Please include me in the list of people who like those terms onlee.

ajit_tr · Post by **ajit_tr** » 19 Nov 2010 21:55

Barkha Dutt

While the U.S. had its Roger Ailes vs. NPR dust-up yesterday, India found itself in the middle of a media brouhaha of its own. Recordings surfaced of what the Indian magazine Open says are lobbyists, politicians, journalists and industrialists discussing who would become Indian ministers after the 2009 election. Reactions to the recordings have been accusatory of the media, with accusations that the tapes show Barkha Dutt, one of the country's top-leading network newscasters, works for the Congress party of India and, therefore, is biased in her news reports. Dutt took to Twitter to defend herself, saying, "Amazed, angered and saddened at inability of some to distinguish between gathering info and ridiculous labels like lobbying/power-broking."

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/blog-p ... g_and.html

ajit_tr · Post by **ajit_tr** » 19 Nov 2010 21:56

RamaY · Post by **RamaY** » 19 Nov 2010 21:58

^ I predict that Burkha Dutt will get an international journalism award this year. It is to present her as a victim and protect her continuation in NDTV.

By the way, which foreign media house bought NDTV shares recently, and what is their relationship with Wash.Post?

RamaY · Post by **RamaY** » 19 Nov 2010 22:02

Ajit_tr,

Great work man. We need to look for the Vir Sanghvi article that came out after that conversation and see how he carried over that conversation into his column.

He was playing innocent saying "i dont remember what i talk", and by mapping these conversations and the following articles we can show the linkages...

Is there a good document scanning/search tool? Appreciate some help.

praksam · Post by **praksam** » 19 Nov 2010 22:04

RoyG wrote:"And lastly, bizarre to think any government bases decisions on cabinet formation on what journos say!! End of discussion folks. see ya"
1 minute ago via web

"Radia was a valid news source for DMK camp. She gave info on Karunanidhi, and sought my analysis on what Cong may do next. Valid journalism."
5 minutes ago via web

Sigh...well even if she is convicted and leaves NDTV, I'm sure she'll at least get a nice severance package from Congress if she hasn't already. Mahesh Bhatt is lookin kinda lonely on the other side of the border...perhaps she can continue on! *shrugs*

http://twitter.com/bdutt

Saar, The best Defense is "best Offense"

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 19 Nov 2010 22:05

Ajit_TR since you seem to have the best handle on this topic I request you to create a chart like the one that SwamyG linked above on "who is suing who?"
Use software like ppt or visio to create it and post here. I picture is worth a thousand words etc, etc..... Once you have preliminary version we can circulate for updates.
Thanks in advance

ramana

PS: You can also use chart templates called Concept Map to do that.

Google for that.

But ppt is more versatile so you can cadd as it gets more unraveling.

ajit_tr · Post by **ajit_tr** » 19 Nov 2010 22:08

The Truth Conditions

Manmohan Singh’s time, strangely, has seen more scams than any of his predecessors. What price the ‘Mr Clean’ image?

In the spectrum of the Congress party, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was supposed to have been the clean guy, the one who pulled little political weight but did bring in the incremental approval of a growing middle class. In an arrangement where real power lay elsewhere, he clicked as PM and was retained for a second term precisely because of a decent image as the career economist—somewhat apart from the usual suspects in the cesspool of politics.

But after the Supreme Court raised serious questions about the PM’s inaction in responding to queries about policies pursued by ex-telecom minister A. Raja, the meltdown of the image has begun. The clean Mr White usp has indeed begun to take on a very fuzzy shade of grey. Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley says “the PM’s image that nothing sticks has become an image of a man who will do nothing. A revulsion is setting in”.

anchal · Post by **anchal** » 19 Nov 2010 22:11

The eminent journalist who earlier used to tweet like Rahul Gandhi trips to restaurants has not tweeted for the past 5 hrs. Besides on Twitter, seeking comfort from lonely supporters!

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 19 Nov 2010 22:13

Also how can we be sure that Vir Singhivi is writing his own ideas and not propogating ideas from powers that be in his cloumns? For eg. his esaay on giving up Cash mere ?

Best option is for NDTV etc to appoint their own inquiry panel headed by Kuldip Nayar with some other eminent journalists and clean up their stables or they will become irrelevant.

ajit_tr · Post by **ajit_tr** » 19 Nov 2010 22:18

Scandal: Nira Radia, Barkha Dutt Taped Conversations

Journalist Barkha Dutt is in some hot water thanks to a taped conversation between her and corporate lobbyist Nira Radia that was obtained by Open Magazine.

Barkha Dutt has emerged as a lobbyist for the Congress government.

Hindustan Times Advisory editorial director Vir Sanghvi has also emerged as political lobbyist taking sides with petty political parties.

Barkha Dutt is one of India’s most popular journalists and a winner of the Padma Bhushan Awards. Many of her fans are shocked to see her stoop so low. Will Barkha Dutt bounce back from this crisis ?

Phone Taps Draw Media Into 2G Spotlight

The Congress-ruled government must be relieved that the extremely harsh spotlight cast by the 2G spectrum scandal is now widening to the Indian media, thanks to the surfacing of some very mysterious tapes.

On Thursday and Friday, several Indian media outlets published transcripts and posted online recordings of phone taps they described as having been made by India’s Income Tax department.

These phone taps and transcripts have also been submitted to India’s Supreme Court, which is also taking a keen interest in how spectrum was awarded to telecom companies in 2008.

ajit_tr · Post by **ajit_tr** » 19 Nov 2010 22:19

ramana wrote:Ajit_TR since you seem to have the best handle on this topic I request you to create a chart like the one that SwamyG linked above on "who is suing who?"
Use software like ppt or visio to create it and post here. I picture is worth a thousand words etc, etc..... Once you have preliminary version we can circulate for updates.
Thanks in advance

ramana

PS: You can also use chart templates called Concept Map to do that.

Google for that.

But ppt is more versatile so you can cadd as it gets more unraveling.

Ok Ramana ji i'll try to make the chart.

ajit_tr · Post by **ajit_tr** » 19 Nov 2010 22:20

"PM Manmohan Singh breaks his silence on the 2G Scam."The only 2G I know are.. Sonia 'G' & Rahul 'G'"

darshhan · Post by **darshhan** » 19 Nov 2010 22:26

One of twitter users send this tweet to burqa.

@BDUTT you being defensive now reminds me of many politicians who defend themselves everyday .

svinayak · Post by **svinayak** » 19 Nov 2010 22:39

amdavadi wrote:Cong is written all over it....They have gone after DMK,anil,sunil mittal & amar singh.

None of cong politician's are being taped. This is right from the book of Indira Gandhi &
what she did with people who oppose her..Soon we will hear name of pawar & his side kick.

Watch for foreign players and any other govt in this.
Also the news about Late Sen Monyahan paying money to INC earlier has surfaced recently.
So there are several scenarios here. This scandal is to divert the attention from the INC internal problems. So all issues should be focused.

Find out how many use the term 'National Interest'. Check them out and what do they support.

sanjeevpunj · Post by **sanjeevpunj** » 19 Nov 2010 22:53

Hiten wrote:alternate links to the tapped conversations......

Great job, Hiten.

dnivas · Post by **dnivas** » 19 Nov 2010 23:05

Nira Radia and Burka Dutt [****] shown lobbying between congress and DMK

http://news.indiamicrofinance.com/nira- ... 92739y72e/

There are four phone taps showing what this woman has been upto.

SwamyG · Post by **SwamyG** » 19 Nov 2010 23:08

V.Sundaram's take.
http://ennapadampanchajanya.blogspot.co ... ister.html
http://ennapadampanchajanya.blogspot.co ... citor.html
http://ennapadampanchajanya.blogspot.co ... ge-dr.html

Sample:

SwamyG · Post by **SwamyG** » 19 Nov 2010 23:16

Ok Ramana ji i'll try to make the chart.

ajit: Let me know if you need help....I can offer some proof-reading, fact-checking, PPT editing work ityadi. You can ping me at <edited>

darshhan · Post by **darshhan** » 19 Nov 2010 23:25

Hey guys does anybody has videos of Subramanium Swamy regarding this scandal on any channel?

shyamd · Post by **shyamd** » 19 Nov 2010 23:39

Raja was making serious $$$$. He was looking at places to park his dough last year. Looking for partners in benami deals.

But let's look at this.

It can't be anyone, to tap people. It needs a lot of paperwork. I really doubt it was IT dept unless Radia had complaints made against her. But anyway, it could easily be congress govt sanctioned.

Why shoot yourself in the foot?
Thing is everyone knows govt is corrupt. News had broken anyway. I feel that this is another attempt to give MK and sons a sharp warning on the amount of money they are making.
The AIADMK story is old. There was talk last year, but getting it back onto paper is congress sanctioned. A AIADMK source did tell me that congress will make an alliance with them.
Barkha and Vir probably crossed some lines, so they made them into a target in this Raja scam.

OR alternative is that it is the BJP backed guys, politico's, industrialists thought let's deliver a blow and get them back in the reckoning for the next election.
Let's face it BJP is in serious trouble.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 19 Nov 2010 23:41

ajit_tr wrote:"PM Manmohan Singh breaks his silence on the 2G Scam."The only 2G I know are.. Sonia 'G' & Rahul 'G'"

And both are scam(p)s

partha · Post by **partha** » 20 Nov 2010 00:06

RamaY wrote:Ajit_tr,

Great work man. We need to look for the Vir Sanghvi article that came out after that conversation and see how he carried over that conversation into his column.

He was playing innocent saying "i dont remember what i talk", and by mapping these conversations and the following articles we can show the linkages...

Is there a good document scanning/search tool? Appreciate some help.

Here you go -
http://www.virsanghvi.com/CounterPoint- ... spx?ID=342

partha · Post by **partha** » 20 Nov 2010 00:12

Similar defense!
Vir Sanghvi

As I have never met Mr Raja and have attacked his corruption in both print and TV, these assertions struck me as bizarre.

Barkha Dutt

Struck by the bizarre irony of being accused of favouring a man i have never met ( raja) and have always attacked in print and on TV. Gnite!

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 20 Nov 2010 00:14

ramana wrote:
ajit_tr wrote:"PM Manmohan Singh breaks his silence on the 2G Scam."The only 2G I know are.. Sonia 'G' & Rahul 'G'"

There is 3rd G, called G Hajoor.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 20 Nov 2010 00:15

Maybe they consulted Ms Radia's PR firm before they issued similar denials.

Same themes: bizarre, never met Raja (yet phone tap excerpts show conversing familiarity!)

Too bad that the taps are from 2009 only. Wonder if even DCH was in contact with Ms Radia?

praksam · Post by **praksam** » 20 Nov 2010 00:17

Openthemagazine.com is not working in the US.

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OPEN Magazine
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You are not authorized to access this page.

SwamyG · Post by **SwamyG** » 20 Nov 2010 00:18

A serious question. How do these guys steal or accept bribes involving huge amounts of money? It is not like they have hard currency notes in a suitcase under their bed or backyard, right? A dissident from their own camp can alert IT folks. And it is not like they can store 1000crores in a bank savings account just like that? They would have to buy real estate itiyadi. Is it all parked in Swiss accounts? I know crooks can navigate the rules & regulations using loopholes.

I simply cannot wrap by head around this, because this is not like stealing 10 bucks from a blind beggar in a blind alley.

Does anyone even care of scams involving a paltry 10-20 crores of rupees anymore?

ps: I do not have the capability to be a good crook. sigh sigh.

amdavadi · Post by **amdavadi** » 20 Nov 2010 00:29

swamyg

There are lot of ways to invest benami money...There are other investment besides real estate that politician
& family put money into.BR mullah wont like me talking about in a open forum.

Money isnt going to swiss accounts anymore. It is staying in India & comming back to India via FDI.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 20 Nov 2010 00:34

Paltry scams are only in some states with modest leaders.

Robert Clive "I was astonished at my own modesty!" on being charged with looting the Nawabs of Bengal at his impeachment.

RamaY · Post by **RamaY** » 20 Nov 2010 00:36

^ I too have similar question, but connecting dots...

- The movie Leader (telugu) shows apartments with cupboards filled with hard currency. May be useful for elections etc.,
- Currency rotating businesses - Like Arrack licenses
- Agri-Lands and Fish tanks - In my village current going rate for 1 acre agri-land is Rs 50 Lakhs, where as the registration value could be in few tens of thousands. If you sell me 100 acrs (50 crores), I pay (100x50,000= 50 Lakhs x 6% = 3 Lakhs) 3 lakhs registration fee and they are mine.
- Commercial RE (shops, buildings) rents. A mall in a city can have ~10-100 crore value (gets great rents).

The thing is that the revenue department doesn't ask for actual money transfer; but just cares for the registration value...

***

The scenario is changing on ground albeit slowly. This time when I sold my land in Hyderabad, the registration value is almost same as market value, and I had to provide images of checks to show that I did receive the money from the buyer...

Even then it cannot go beyond 500-1000 crores.

***

Is it possible to provide preferential share allotment at reduced price??? YES!

Sri Ramalinga Raju of aSatyam company Sold/Bought Satyam Enterprise Services shares to Mr. Srini Raju (Owner of TV9, Visualsoft, Intelligroup, Megasoft, so on...) at face value Rs. 10 where as Mr. Srini Raju resold the shares to aSatyam for ~800 crores.

That could be the new game...

That is where the black-gown beauty Nira Radia might have become the key node in the network...

***

By the way, I hope she gets to wear that black gown (She mentions in Sri Ratan's phone call) when she goes under trial.

darshhan · Post by **darshhan** » 20 Nov 2010 00:51

amdavadi wrote:swamyg

There are lot of ways to invest benami money...There are other investment besides real estate that politician
& family put money into.BR mullah wont like me talking about in a open forum.

Money isnt going to swiss accounts anymore. It is staying in India & comming back to India via FDI.

SwamiG ,Yep swiss bank is 1980's stuff.With economy booming right here most of the black money is pumped right back here(including in Real estate and construction).A sizeable percentage gets rerouted as FDI while rest is pumped directly.I have some figures about FDI.Guess which country is the top FDI investor in India.Its Mauritius.Yes ahead of USA,Japan,UK,Korea and all others.Do you really think Mauritius on its own has the ability to make such huge investments.Between 2008-2009 they invested 50794 crores in India.this is all slush money coming back.Check the figures yourself.

http://www.indiaonestop.com/FDI/FDI.htm

In FDI equity investments Mauritius tops the list of first ten investing countries followed by US, UK, Singapore, Netherlands, Japan, Germany, France, Cyprus and Switzerland. Between April 2000 and July 2008 FDI inflows from Mauritius stood at $ 30.18 billion followed by $5.80 billion from Singapore; $ 5.47 billion from the US; $ 4.83 billion from the UK; $ 3.12 billion from the Netherlands; $ 2.26 billion from Japan; $1.83 billion from Germany; $ 1.41 billion from Cyprus; and $1.02 billion from France.

SwamyG · Post by **SwamyG** » 20 Nov 2010 00:54

amdavadi wrote:swamyg

There are lot of ways to invest benami money...There are other investment besides real estate that politician
& family put money into.BR mullah wont like me talking about in a open forum.

Money isnt going to swiss accounts anymore. It is staying in India & comming back to India via FDI.

Check out my last post in the Indian economy dhaaga. Our underground economy is almost 50% of our total economy.

It is not that I am honest or ethical, but I have to rationalize myself when committing here and there unethical things

SwamyG · Post by **SwamyG** » 20 Nov 2010 01:18

More on Vahanvati and MMS: http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article895873.ece

The Centre said on Friday that for effective representation, Attorney-General G.E. Vahanvati would replace Solicitor-General Gopal Subramaniam to appear for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the case filed by Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy in the Supreme Court over the 2G spectrum scam.

The court will take up the case again on Tuesday. It will hear on Monday the petition filed by advocate Prashant Bhushan to examine the Comptroller and Auditor-General's report on the spectrum allocation.

On November 16, a Bench of Justices G.S. Singhvi and A.K. Ganguly questioned Mr. Gopal Subramaniam over “the Prime Minister's alleged inaction and silence for 16 months” {if proven, would there be protests in America when MMS tries to enter maasa?} on Dr. Swamy's petition seeking sanction to prosecute A. Raja, who resigned as Communications Minister a few days ago.

On Thursday, the court observed that it was a serious matter and wanted an affidavit filed on behalf of the Prime Minister by Saturday. Though the Solicitor-General said he would make his submissions on the basis of records, the court said it would be better an affidavit was filed.

Stung by the court observations, the government entrusted the country's top law officer with the task of defending the Prime Minister.

Talking to journalists, Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily said: “There is no change in government representation. The Solicitor-General will represent the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), while Additional Solicitor-General Haren Raval will represent the CBI as they are separate entities.”

Mr. Moily said the Prime Minister was not given notice earlier. “Now with the Supreme Court asking an affidavit to be filed on behalf of the Prime Minister, it is a different case. Now we are making it a pucca case. ”

V.Sundaram writes: http://ennapadampanchajanya.blogspot.co ... ge-dr.html {Please read this link to know why and how Vahanvati is tainted goods too}

To sum up, Dr Subramanian Swamy also invited the attention of the Supreme Court of India to the following points:

A. There was an astounding 11-month “silence” of the Prime Minister on Dr Swamy's public interest litigation seeking sanction to initiate proceedings against then Telecom Minister A. Raja over the 2G spectrum allocation.

B. Dr Swamy told the Supreme Court: “I am suggesting that Solicitor General is either embroidering or stretching the truth. He is taking even routine letters of acknowledgment of mail as substantive official replies”! Dr Swamy has dismissed as “lie” the claim by Solicitor-General Gopal Subramanium that Dr Manmohan Singh had replied to all the letters of Dr Swamy seeking sanction for prosecution against then Telecom Minister A Raja in the 2G spectrum scam.

C. Dr Swamy informed the Supreme Court that he had never received any “substantive” reply since Nov 29, 2008from the Prime Minister to his five letters, sent from time to time and on each occasion fortified with additional documents attached by way of clinching evidence against Raja.

D. Another communication was a letter from A. Raja, who resigned as communications and IT minister recently, addressed to Dr Swamy in December 2009. It stated that a copy of the representation that Dr Swamy had given to the Prime Minister seeking the prosecution of Minister Raja had been forwarded to him. Dr Swamy pointed out to the Supreme Court that this was “illegal”. How could Minister Raja be directed to reply when he figured as the prime accused in the original representation of Dr Swamy to the Prime Minister?

E. The Supreme Court of India has taken an exception to the 11-month “silence” of the Prime Minister on Dr Swamy's public interest litigation seeking sanction to initiate proceedings against then telecom minister A. Raja over the 2G spectrum allocation. The Supreme Court of India directed the Solicitor General to file a written affidavit on behalf of the Prime Minister in the Supreme Court on Saturday the 20th of November 2010. The Supreme Court is also reported to have observed: “We are asking for the PM’s affidavit because we want to know what has been the extent of the cover up in this case in the PM’s Office.”

shravan · Post by **shravan** » 20 Nov 2010 01:23

2G case: Cong ready for mid-term polls, not JPC

ajit_tr · Post by **ajit_tr** » 20 Nov 2010 01:25

India is getting increasingly corrupt, greedy: Sonia

New Delhi: In the backdrop of a number of high-level scams, Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Friday said "graft and greed" are on the rise, putting in danger the principles on which independent India was founded and stressed the need for a "more effective and efficient" government.

Tamang · Post by **Tamang** » 20 Nov 2010 01:25

Guys good news, ZEE News did a story last night on this telephone tape kaand

http://www.zeenews.com/video/showvideo9044.html

PS. Can someone upload this video on youtube.

Edit: This video seems to be different from what I saw last night, it was hosted by Punya Prasoon Vajpayee but my cable reception was grainy at that time so could not watch it.

In this news report they showed a kind of chart with pics of Nira Radia, Raja, Barkha, Sanghvi, MMS and Sonia liking who spoke to whom.

nkumar · Post by **nkumar** » 20 Nov 2010 01:48

Role of Attorney General - G Vahanvati:

Attorney general endorsed Raja decision

NEW DELHI: Attorney general Goolam Vahanvati said the controversial January 10, 2008 press release issued by A Raja, which made crucial changes in the normal first-come-first-served policy to favour select companies, was "fair and reasonable".

On January 7, 2008, three days before the press release was issued for allocation of new licences and 2G spectrum, Vahanvati as the then solicitor general wrote that the press release "makes for transparency".

In a file noting, Vahanvati wrote, "I have seen the note. The issue regarding new LoI's not before any court. What is proposed is fair and reasonable. The press release makes for transparency. This seems to be in order."
........

Nira Radia quotes from http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268071

“When it came to spectrum, they went to Raja and paid him a bribe and got spectrum allocated.”

“Uddhav’s already taken funding from both groups. I’d suggest, tell Krishna Kumar to talk to Uddhav.”

“Otherwise I will tell them to tell Uddhav to go after them. I don’t think Congress will do much.”

“I believe Maran has given about 600 crores to Dayalu, Stalin’s mother.”

Mere client Tatas bhi bahut beneficiary thhe (in the 2G spectrum allocation).”

“Senthil, Rahul Joshi, maine donon ki le li. You can’t run stories against my clients and get away with it.”

“I have a note, no, a whole dossier, on Praful Patel on the last five years jisme ye poora aspect hai.”

“Inka pichhle paanch saal mein yahi attempt to tha, inko destroy karo, donon careers ko.”

“Narendra Modi, Arun Jaitley, Ananth Kumar, Venkaiah Naidu, ye sab coterie hain na of Advani.”

“Naresh wants to kill it (Air India), Vijay wants to kill it and Praful is not really interested.”

“Raja has promised me that he will not do anything in a hurry. I made Kani speak to him as well. ”

“The solicitor general, Gopal Subramaniam, I am gonna go and brief him. He hates them.”