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

[Sushupti]

Chidambaram aaj sabse bada dalal hain at 28:00



At 11:0 "Kapil Sibbal jitna gyan college mein praapt kiya sab bhul gaya".

At 22.20 " yeh indian express ka editor hai pura chidambaram ka chamcha hai. aur bhi hai jo main abhi nahin bolunga. Yeh koi editor nahin hai, editor layak hee nahin hai".

At: 44:15 " Yeh UPA sarkar kabhi bhi Paksitan ke khilaaf khada nahin ho sakti, kyonki jo inka sara bank acount ka vivaran unke pass hai".

[RoyG]

Very funny comedian. Recommend everyone to watch.

[youtube]HIudxeqFuz8&fb_source=message[/youtube]

[svenkat]

Niece, friend of Adviser to Manmohan got land largesse from BEML co-op.

Plots returned after whistle-blower complained to PMO

A cooperative society of employees of BEML, a public sector defence undertaking, made at least two irregular allotments of housing sites to a niece and to a friend of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Adviser, T.K.A. Nair, in December 2008, documents available with The Hindu show.

The allotment of plots in South Bangalore at throwaway prices was made at a time when complaints by company whistle-blowers about the role of BEML Chairman and Managing Director V.R.S. Natarajan in the controversial Tatra truck deal — first made in 2005 — were pending with the Central Vigilance Commission, the Ministry of Defence and the Prime Minister's Office.
The plots were allotted to Mr. Nair's niece, A. Preethy Prabha, and family friend, Uma Devi Nambiar, by the BEML Employees Cooperative Society. A third plot was allotted to another person, who, the whistle-blowers claim, is also related to Mr. Nair, who was the Prime Minister's Principal Secretary when the allotments were made, and still has Minister of State rank. Her identity is being withheld by The Hindu as her relationship to the senior official could not be independently verified.

Interestingly, the three sale deeds show that a senior official in Mr. Natarajan's office put his signature to the land transaction as a witness.

Violation

All three transactions violated section 10 (b) of the BEML society's by-laws, which stipulate that allotments of land — which had been given to the society by the State government at significantly subsidised rates — be restricted to employees of the company.

Why the f58k should GoKN subsidise the employees of BEML.

Natarajan was also allotted plots

BEML Chairman and Managing Director V.R.S. Natarajan, too, was allotted plots by the BEML Employees Cooperative Society, in violation of norms, at Thubarahalli near the HAL Airport here.

The plots (number 795 and 796), which were combined to form a contiguous corner site measuring nearly 6,000 sq ft, were sold to Mr. Natarajan on January 22, 2005, for Rs. 8.58 lakh, or Rs. 152 per sq ft. Today, the average market rate hovers around Rs. 8,000 per sq ft., and a corner site is worth much more.

The violation of norms in his case arises from the fact that he was allotted two sites, whereas the by-laws allow for only one plot per person. Secondly, corner plots are supposed to be auctioned in the open market by a housing cooperative. But an exception was made for Mr. Natarajan

[ramana]

Bofors and BJP

Bofors & the BJP
Fighting corruption is passe for the opposition party, says N.V.Subramanian.

30 April 2012: If the BJP is in a position to form a government in 2014, its prime minister will be one who is judged as a robust anti-corruption crusader. By that yardstick, almost no one in the present BJP central leadership stands a chance.

The RSS which takes all the key decisions in the BJP is disgusted with the party's unwillingness or inability to confront UPA-2 head-on on the corruption issue which has been one of the chief reasons for the Congress's rout in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi. The RSS is particularly galled by the BJP's defensiveness on the reopened Bofors scandal, with the former Swedish police chief, Sten Lindstrom, accusing Ottavio Quattrocchi of being the principal recipient of kickbacks in the Rs 64-crore howitzer deal.

Arun Jaitley, who has been in the forefront of opposition attempts to nail the Bofors scamsters since the late 1980s, has been smarting this past week on charges of a BJP-Congress deal on the gun scandal. He told a news TV interviewer to his face that this was a "figment of his imagination" and a load of "rubbish". But the allegations aren't dying down.

Ever since Rajiv Gandhi's political rise, Ottavio Quattrocchi has been socially linked to him and to his wife and now widow, Sonia Gandhi. There is enough evidence that past Congress governments gave Quattrocchi safe passage out of the country, prevented CBI from pursuing his case, withdrew red-corner Interpol notices, and permitted the Italian middleman to withdraw big monies from previously sealed UK bank accounts linked to the Bofors pay off.

But when Arun Jaitley debated the matter in Parliament, he made it a point not to take names, provoking allegations that he was soft-pedalling the issue. Arun Jaitley is one of the few politicians in public life who can claim to be clean. But his performance on the Bofors front has surprised and anguished his staunchest admirers. "A tree is judged by the fruits it bears," said a senior RSS functionary in reference to the BJP central leadership of L.K.Advani, Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj. And that cannot mean good news for them, and especially for Jaitley and Swaraj, who are in the 2014 running for PM.

When A.B.Vajpayee was prime minister, he was not keen to pursue the Bofors investigations to show political magnanimity towards the widow of an assassinated prime minister. Part of the squeamishness of the present-day BJP leadership in respect of the Bofors scandal arises from the confused signals given by Vajpayee. To go hammer and tongs against UPA-2 on Bofors would mean to repudiate Vajpayee. There is also the fact that eight years in the opposition has made the BJP soft. Jaitley is fond of quoting Napoleon who's supposed to have said, "Don't murder the man who is committing suicide." The only trouble with that is that the great conqueror ended up on the wrong side of history, which is the danger facing the BJP.

No opposition party has been granted so many opportunities as the BJP to push the corrupt and venal ruling dispensation to defeat, and everytime it has squandered its chance. In regard to corruption scandals, a pattern has emerged. Right after a scandal erupts, the BJP will raise the issue for a day or two and let it die subsequently, unless the RSS weighs in with a rebuke, whence a flurry of statements will ensue, all calculated to mollify the Nagpur minders.

Subramaniam Swamy is a doughty ally to have. But the BJP seems almost embarrassed to capitalize on his nearly weekly explosive revelations on 2G, mostly targeting home minister P.Chidambaram. Apropos Anna Hazare, the BJP was quite willing to pursue the "Parliament is supreme" line, calculated to bail out UPA-2, until the RSS blazed out. And on army chief General V.K.Singh's revelations of corruption, the BJP reflex was to play safe, until it was externally prodded.

The point is, the RSS cannot constantly remind the BJP of its public duties. Whatever Vajpayee's soft corner for the Nehru-Gandhis, the Bofors scandal is about misappropriated public monies, yours and mine, and they ought to be gotten back, however long it takes. When it involves government corruption, there can be no place or room for political niceties. And if BJP leaders today are found to be soft pedalling on corruption issues, they don't deserve power in 2014.

[ramana]

CBi files charges:

Ashok Chavan in dock for money laundering in Adarsh Scam

[svenkat]

Perks for life

Benefits for our 'hardworking' netas.Do not know where else to post.

Former Speakers are seeking special perks. And the Central government seems to be in a generous mood. According to former Lok Sabha Speaker P.A. Sangma, as reported in the media on Monday, in-principle approval has been accorded to his proposal to extend the perquisites and privileges now reserved for former Presidents, Vice-Presidents, and Prime Ministers to former Speakers of the Lok Sabha.

The rationale for seeking this largesse, if at all there is one, is that the Speaker is the only constitutional authority — Number Six in the Warrant of Precedence or the protocol list — who does not enjoy special perquisites after the conclusion of his or her term. Former Speakers, at present, are entitled “only” to pension and ordinary benefits that are also available to all former Members of Parliament. If anything, the argument should be for dropping or curbing the special perks which come with retirement from all constitutional posts and not for adding more former office-holders to the list.

The reason high office comes with privileges is because they make it easier for the incumbent to do the job. Logically, therefore, the privileges of office should end with the term in office. This is the way it is in virtually every democracy. Of course, the state has a continuing duty to provide security, where threats exist

But few countries barring India provide homes and motor cars to retired Presidents or Prime Ministers, let alone Speakers, for the rest of their lives.

Though MPs and Ministers compare themselves with bureaucrats while seeking retirement benefits, government servants retire after 30 or more years of service, and not five years like MPs. If former Speakers are granted the privileges they reportedly are seeking, it would only be a matter of time before former Deputy Chairpersons of the Rajya Sabha or former Deputy Speakers of the Lok Sabha demand similar perks and benefits. And why should the poor Speakers of all our State Assemblies be left behind? The issue goes beyond the cost or scale of this exercise. At stake is a fundamental republican principle: that people holding constitutional office for limited terms ought not to enjoy special privileges once they retire.

Seems to me to be nothing less than organised corruption.

[ramana]

Mother/Father of 2G scams.

Pioneer, Op-Ed on Bofors swindle.

Bofors deal was a swindle

Author: Ashok Malik

Congress is trying to weave an alternative narrative on the Bofors scam to absolve its first family of wrong-doing. That won’t change the facts.




It is unlikely that the demand the Bofors scandal be reinvestigated is going to get anywhere. The legal case is dead. Many of the dramatis personae, including key Bofors officials who paid the bribes, are dead. At best, there is scope for a commission to find out where exactly officials and investigators went wrong — or were deliberately made to go wrong. Indeed, there is a book waiting to be written on the subject, but that is another matter.

Following the recent interview given by Mr Sten Lindstrom, former chief of Swedish Police who inquired into the Bofors swindle, the story from 25 years ago is back in news. Mr Lindstrom has admitted there is no available evidence that bribe money made it to Rajiv Gandhi’s bank account, but has alleged the Rajiv Government (and its successors) did their utmost to cover up the scandal.

The Congress has seized upon one half of the sentence and insisted Mr Lindstrom has emphasised Rajiv Gandhi’s innocence. This is the first part of its defence. The second part, as has been evident in Mr Mani Shankar Aiyar’s hectoring and obnoxious manner on television this past week, is manufacturing an alternative narrative to the one that existed in the 1980s and 1990s. There is need to set the record straight.

The Congress says non-Congress Governments were in power for close to 10 years in the quarter-century since the Bofors revelations of 1987. As such, why did they fail to nail the truth, if the truth exists at all? This argument is superficially persuasive. However, it ignores that of the 10 years being referred to actually only seven — the six years of NDA rule, 1998-2004, and the one year of the National Front Government, 1989-90 — saw genuinely non-Congress rule. This statistical trivia acquires urgency when one considers how events unfolded.

It was only after the VP Singh Government came to office in 1989 that a case was registered. A year later, the Government fell and Chandra Shekhar’s rump group formed a short-lived Government supported by the Congress. Strange developments now took place. In court, the Central Bureau of Investigation’s lawyer in the Bofors case began arguing against his own client.

It was so bizarre that the CBI investigative official, a first-rate officer who is still available for anybody who cares to meet him, had to interrupt and shout down the lawyer in court, with apologies to the Bench of course. The lawyer had been compromised by the Chandra Shekhar Government, with a particular Minister giving him contrary instructions following a deal with the Congress.

That sabotage attempt was thwarted. Soon, in 1991, PV Narasimha Rao came to power. By then it was obvious the Bofors bribe money had ended up in an identified set of accounts in Switzerland. Unknown individuals/entities went to court in Geneva and asked Swiss authorities not tell the Indian Government who the accounts belonged to. Clearly these were the holders of the accounts and the recipients of the bribes or kickbacks or winding-up charges (to use euphemisms familiar to Bofors veterans).

What did the Rao Government do? In 1992, Madhavsinh Solanki, the then Minister for External Affairs, visited Davos for the World Economic Forum meeting. There he met the Swiss Foreign Minister and handed him a note saying the Bofors case was politically motivated. He asked him not to cooperate with Indian investigators and to ignore requests made by other arms of the Rao Government. When this became public, Solanki was forced to resign.

In July 1993, Interpol told India Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi was among the parties appealing against the transfer of the Swiss bank documents. Within days, Quattrocchi flew out of India, his departure facilitated by a senior Congress politician from Karnataka. He has never returned.

In 1997, the documents from Switzerland finally arrived. They revealed money paid by Bofors to an entity called AE Services finally made it to Quattrocchi’s bank account — in the name of Colbar Investments, a Panama-registered company of which he was described as “the economical owner”. From there, the money had been transferred to other accounts controlled by Quattrocchi.

Quattrocchi was now living in Malaysia. The NDA Government tried to extradite him. It lost in a lower court on a Friday and appealed to the higher court on the following Monday. Over the weekend, Quattrocchi had flown out of Malaysia.

In December 2005, Quattrocchi’s bank accounts in London, where the bribes had turned up, were de-frozen under instructions from the CBI and the Italian was allowed to have his money. In 2007, thanks to an old Interpol alert, police authorities in Argentina detained Quattrocchi. The UPA Government went slow on the matter — at one point claiming it did not have adequate Spanish-English translators.

Meanwhile, in India an unfavourable Delhi High Court verdict of 2004 — which had quashed the bribery charges — was not appealed against. In May 2005, the Delhi High Court ended the case against the Hindujas — who also held one of the Swiss accounts information for which had been sought in the early-1990s — on the grounds that papers presented before the court were not originals but authenticated photocopies.

The UPA Government allowed all this to go unchallenged and let the case just wither away. Astonishingly, the May 2005 verdict judge is now appearing on television shows defending his judgement and saying people need to hear “the truth”.

Was Quattrocchi keeping the money for himself or was he holding it on behalf of political friends? This would be a logical question. On television this week, Mr Aiyar has alleged that Quattrocchi was a friend of Mr Arun Nehru — a cousin and Ministerial colleague of Rajiv Gandhi who subsequently broke away and set up the Janata Dal with VP Singh. Mr Aiyar says he has checked Special Protection Group records and they show Quattrocchi never visited the Prime Minister in the Bofors deal period, implying he had ceased to remain a friend of the Nehru-Gandhi family.

Is this credible? Cabinet Ministers from the time say Quattrocchi and his wife used to enter the Prime Minister’s residence without signing the register. Senior civil servants from the period recall the Italian fixer barging into rooms of Ministers and Secretaries and using the RAX phone — a privilege available only to senior Government officials in New Delhi. Did he have the nerve to do all this simply because he knew Mr Arun Nehru?

In the 1980s — following Mrs Indira Gandhi’s comeback in January 1980 and roughly coinciding with Rajiv Gandhi’s political career — Quattrocchi won his nominal employer, Snamprogetti, some 60 projects from Indian Government agencies. Particularly in the fertiliser space, no deal was denied to him.

Those who stood up to him — opposing him on grounds of technology (Thal Vaishet project, 1980) or price (Hazira-Bijapur-Jagdishpur pipeline, 1985) were humiliated or side-lined. HBJ destroyed several careers. Mr Nawal Kishore Sharma lost his job as Petroleum Minister. Mr PK Kaul was sacked as Cabinet secretary. Mr GV Ramakrishna and Mr AS Gill, two outstanding Petroleum Secretaries, were thwarted from being considered for Cabinet Secretary-ship. In the case of Thal Vaishet, Mr KV Ramananthan, then Secretary for chemicals and fertilisers and frontrunner for the Cabinet Secretary’s post, was shunted out to the Planning Commission.

Old-timers in New Delhi haven’t forgotten these distortions. Mr Ramananthan’s son-in-law is now the UPA’s Rural Development Minister. Yet Mr Aiyar expects us to believe all this happened only because Quattrocchi apparently knew Mr Arun Nehru. He may as well ask us to believe in the tooth fairy.

malikashok@gmail.com

[ramana]

I havent seen this reported far and wide.

SC bar association decides not to engage Singhvi.

Defacto ban.

The Supreme Court Bar Association today passed a resolution deciding not to engage senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi, allegedly involved in a controversial CD with a lady advocate.

The resolution was adopted this evening at a meeting of the Association wherein it was unanimously decided that Singhvi shall not be engaged by any of the advocates on record henceforth.

The Association also dispatched a copy of the resolution to Chief Justice of India S H Kapadia expressing dismay at the alleged controversial action, which it felt went against the professional conduct prescribed for the lawyers under the Advocates Act.

If there is a code of conduct for lawyers in Advocates Act, what are the penalties for breach of such codes?
Shouldn't it be debarment?

[Jarita]

DNA exclusive: Government did impose Tatra on the army
Started in 1986 - same year as Bofors

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_dn ... my_1683806

The Government hasn't imposed it (Tatra Truck) on the Army to have this vehicle
— AK Antony in the Rajya Sabha on May 2, 2012

The Union defence minister is either unaware of the defence audit wing’s warnings against the outdated and overpriced Tatra trucks or he is feigning ignorance.

In fact, the audit wing, which comes under the Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG), found in 2006 that orders for Tatra trucks were placed after considerable manipulation “to keep the production line of BEML alive”.

If Antony were to go through the files, he would have noticed the several audit findings that point out Tatra trucks were imposed on the army many a time.

Of course, it would be unfair to pin the entire blame on Antony. Several army officers, too, ensured that the racket kept rolling ever since the first truck was purchased in 1986. Some of them or maybe all those involved will have to answer the CBI in the coming days.

Of the various audit findings, DNA found one buried in
the files of the Master General of Ordnance (MGO) and the War Establishment (WE) — the two directorates in the army headquarters responsible for all procurements.

In 2006, the defence audit wing audited the performance of the army’s vehicle management. S Kalyanraman, a senior audit officer in the wing, chanced upon a transaction
with several anomalies in connection with the purchase of Tatra trucks. In a query note, accessed by DNA, to the army headquarters, he pointed out these discrepancies.

The infantry — the largest and most potent combat arm of the Indian Army — Kalyanraman noted in his query, needed high-mobility vehicles to rush troops to the front during war.

Based on its experience in the Kargil war in 1999 and during Operation Parakram in 2002, the army issued a fresh set of parameters for buying trucks (six-wheel drive trucks under GSQR 486). And three firms, BEML with its Tatra trucks, Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland, were shortlisted.

Strangely, BEML made it to the list with the Tatra T-815, a four-wheel drive truck. Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland were running six-wheel drive trucks on trial when the list was prepared.
"Subsequently the LPTA 1621 truck of Tata Motors qualified for induction in the army because the firm had carried out the suggested modifications successfully and it was approved by VRDE", Kalyanraman said in his note.

But inexplicable changes followed and an order for 490 trucks were placed with BEML in March 2006 at an estimated cost of Rs254.54. Kalyanraman's audit investigation revealed that the order went to BEML after "secretary (defence production) strongly recommended" the public sector unit to the then defence secretary and the then vice-chief of the army.

Shekhar Dutt was the defence secretary then. He is now the governor of Chhatisgarh. Considered close to the senior Congress leadership, Dutt received several assignments after retirement.

The defence ministry justified the switch by changing the parameters. It used a GSQR meant for some other truck to push the deal in favour of BEML. All this was done "to keep the production line of BEML alive".

Last year, too, the CAG reported negatively against BEML and Tatra. The CBI, a source said, will use these reports as evidence in its investigation into the Tatra scam.

The audit report (No. 24 of 2011-12) on defence services noted: "The increase of Rs352 crore under heavy and medium vehicles was mainly due to… additional requirement of funds for the new scheme (HMV Tatra Quantity 788)".

At least Rs314.85 crore was paid as advance for contracts that were hastily pushed through in March 2010 "for Tatra vehicles". But "no benefit could be achieved" and there was a case of "over-booking".

Once General VK Singh took over as the army chief, he refused to authorise a purchase of Tatra trucks, following a "bribe offer of Rs14 crore". The general has accused Lt Gen (retd) Tejinder Singh of making the bribe offer. The CBI is investigating the matter.

But the fact is Kalyanraman's audit findings were buried under files and a scam was allowed to flourish for several years.

[abhishek_sharma]

If looks could tell

When defence minister AK Antony was sent by the Congress to call on DMK chief M Karunanidhi in Chennai to seek support for the coming presidential elections, Karunanidhi had the venue shifted at the last minute from his official Gopalapuram residence to CIT Colony where Kanimozhi and her mother Rajathiammal live. Other than them and senior DMK leader TR Baalu, no one from the party was with Karunanidhi when he met the defence minister. The former Tamil Nadu chief minister did not discuss anything about the meeting later with other DMK leaders, making them wonder whether there was nothing of interest to the party. Photographs of a beaming DMK chief and his daughter in the newspapers the next day added grist to the mill. Kanimozhi is an accused in the 2G case, and has got a notice from the Enforcement Directorate recently. An eloquent silence.

[Sushupti]

Govt’s defence of Chidambaram rings hollow

http://www.dailypioneer.com/home/online ... ollow.html

[ramana]

It appears there were two scams concurrent in 1986 Bofors for the guns and Tatra trucks. Its only now that the Tatra scam is getting revealed in bits and pieces for its linked to Bofors scamsters.

The Tatra scam is a marginal truck is sold to Indian Army with high markup by the foregein vendor(Vectra) and the local Public Sector enterprise (BEML).
So the real deal is where did the mark-up go?

[kasthuri]

And so Raja walks out....and Karuna is cheerful

What's next? And they lived happily ever after....?

[ramana]

DMK's Raja gets bail in 2G case.


Looks like its the otucome of the AKA meeting MK for the Presidential elections.

[RamaY]

XPosting

http://www.firstpost.com/business/cell- ... 25617.html

Anil Ambani’s vehicle for routing investments from Mauritius into Reliance Communications was Pluri Emerging Companies Cell E, a PCC. Sanjay Chandra, Managing Director of Unitech, a 2G scam accused who is currently out on bail, managed to “lose” $51 million by investing in a derivative instrument linked to the performance of Cell G in Pluri. Jagan Mohan Reddy, son of the late Andhra CM YSR and Accused No 1 in several Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) chargesheets, allegedly received investments in one of his companies from two Mauritius-based entities linked to another PCC Cell. Jagan is currently in CBI custody in Chanchalguda jail.

What is there in a PCC that it is such a lure for domestic hot money? PCCs like Pluri Emerging Companies are umbrella ‘management’ companies that shelter individuals or companies that want to protect their identities from scrutiny. Which is why they are given mere alphabetical names like Cell A, B, C, etc. If the main company runs out of letters, it starts the process again with cells named 1A, 1B, etc.

2G scam accused Sanjay Chandra is being investigated for a $ 51 million transaction where the money was initially transferred to Unitech Overseas Ltd in the Isle of Man, a tax haven, through an order approved by the Unitech board of directors. Later, Unitech Overseas Ltd invested the entire money in a derivative product linked with the performance of Cell G of Pluri, according to Enforcement Directorate sources. However, the $51 million turned to zero in a few months, and, according to the CBI, Sanjay Chandra then issued a “comfort note” to his board saying that he would make up the loss.

In Jagan Mohan Reddy’s case, his Sandur Power Company Ltd had sold 1,75,49,307 equity shares of Rs 10 at a premium of Rs 61 per share to two Mauritius companies, 2i Capital and PCC, during October-December 2005. 2i Capital is also known as a PCC Company.

Jagan Reddy raised Rs 124.60 crore from this deal. According to the CBI, Jagan used this money to float four more companies and also paid back his bank loans. Strangely, 2i Capital had appointed Jagan Reddy’s family chartered accountant Vijay Sai Reddy as its representative in December 2005. After a year, he resigned as 2i Capital’s representative and with this the company also disappeared. Later, Jagan Reddy apparently bought back the shares from the Mauritius companies at throwaway prices.

While the details of Anil Ambani’s and Sanjay Chandra’s Pluri links emerged by accident, observers feel that the CBI is not going to get anywhere with its letter rogatory approach, not least because of the sheer delay in going after the money trail. As in Bofors, by the time the CBI gets its LRs and information, both the money and the identities could have disappeared.

http://www.firstpost.com/business/amban ... 24903.html

A mid-May order of a UK Upper Tribunal Judge, Sir Stephen Oliver, QC, confirming a £1.25 million fine on Sachin Karpe, a former UBS bank wealth manager who handled accounts relating to Anil Ambani’s Reliance ADA Group (R-ADAG), among others, has opened a can of worms both for R-ADAG and the Indian market regulator Sebi.

According to a Business Standard report on Tuesday, a Sebi officer accompanied an unnamed Indian national, Mr X, when he was being quizzed by the Financial Services Authority (FSA), the UK financial watchdog and regulator, in the Karpe case. The Upper Tribunal heard Karpe’s appeal against the FSA’s verdict.

During the FSA interview, which is confirmed in official documents of the Upper Tribunal accessed by Firstpost, Mr X apparently denied that he was linked to Swiss Bank UBS’s Customer Account A, from where Karpe made several unauthorised payments to various other unidentified parties.

Sebi’s linkage to the FSA interviewee (Mr X) is not clear. However, its links to the Karpe case lie through its January 2011 consent order where it settled a case with Anil Ambani and four of his executives for Rs 50 crore for alleged illegal routing of borrowed funds to Indian stocks. The UK Tribunal now establishes that the funds were Reliance ADAG’s, and the money was invested in Reliance Communications (RCom) shares through a Mauritius Fund, Pluri Cell E.

The UK Tribunal’s order is embarrassing for both Sebi and Reliance ADAG for three reasons. Not only does it resurrect old demons, but raises new questions about the purpose of Reliance ADAG’s Mauritius investment structure.

First, one wonders how serious Sebi has been while upholding Indian law which forbids nationals from channelling their own investments through overseas institutions. The FSA and the Tribunal give gory details of how Karpe helped “Reliance investors” to not only break Indian law with an investment structure based in Mauritius, but also hoodwink UBS’s compliance regime.

Second, Reliance ADAG has allegedly been trying to breach Indian law even earlier. Says the Tribunal: “The statement of case (by the FSA) makes the point that Mr Karpe knew that the use of Cell E of the Fund was not the first attempt to use an investment structure for Reliance ADAG for the purpose of breaching Indian law. The first, unsuccessful, attempt was a proposed investment for Mr Ambani and/or his family to invest in Indian securities using an insurance vehicle. To conceal the true nature of that investment, Mr (Jaspreet) Ahuja (a client adviser at UBS) deliberately, and over a prolonged period, provided UBS’ Legal and Compliance Department in Zurich with false and/or misleading information.”

Third, Karpe, who headed Asia Desk II at UBS’s Wealth Management arm before he was dismissed for compliance failures, seems to have put through several unauthorised foreign exchange and structured products transactions which “resulted in significant losses for 21 customers”. According to the Upper Tribunal, “he also carried out unauthorised transfers between unconnected customer accounts (as documented below), in particular using Customer A’s account, to disguise losses which had arisen as a result of the unauthorised trading.”

[ramana]

Is Sanjay Karpe an Andhra or Maharastra person? I ask for I know of people from both states with same last name.

[Sanku]

Must watch report from times now.

Key Aid of Madhu Koda of 4000 Cr Mining scam lives in Indonesia, gets his passport stamped twice from Indian embassy and claims that ED has his phone number.

In India the man is declared a fugitive for last three years and missing and has a NBW against him.

Also information is revealed that a Congress Cabinet minister goes to Jharkhand and asks people to go easy on Koda as recently as duing elections.

To remind everyone, Madhu Koda was one person party and also the CM for a govt supported by Congress and RJD (Lalu)

[Aditya_V]

4000 crore, by INC standards he is a small fish. Funny thing I noted was until Madhu Khoda Arrest Dubai was booming and unaffected by 2007 economic crises, and they guy had 50% stake in EMAAR. the moment he got arrested a month later, Dubai Govt was in trouble and had to sell Burj to Abu Dhabi

[Sushupti]

[Sushupti]

The curious Rafale deal


Though there are no fingers pointed at anyone in particular in the $11 million Rafale jet fighter deal, it certainly has strange connections and cross connections

There have been allegations that pressure from the highest political level, and possibly a huge under-the-table payment, dictated India's decision to plump for the Rafale jet fighter made by Dassault of France. The order is for 126 fighter-jets worth an immense $11 billion. These jets are meant to replace the country's ageing fleet of MiG 21s, which make up one-third of the Air force's jet fighters.

Collateral evidence has emerged, through research by Subramanian Swamy and our searches on Google and other internet sites, that blood relations and close friendships at the top political level probably tilted the scales in favour of the Rafale. There is as yet no evidence that Dassault paid a huge bribe to India's first family, though the possibility cannot be ruled out, given the current milieu in India.

It is a tangled skein and one end of the thread begins with T Anantha Krishnan, popularly called TAK. He is the son of a Sri Lankan Tamil immigrant, who was an indentured plantation worker.TAK was reputedly close to K Padbanabhan, money manager of the LTTE, who is now in jail in Sri Lanka.

TAK has no further role in this tale, except that his wife is Latchoumie Marie Helene, born to a white French father who belongs one of the ancient families of France and a Tamil mother. She is popularly known as Mme TAK and Latchoumie is probably the Frenchified version of Lakshmi, a common Tamil name...

Mme TAK, is the owner of La Fantaisie, a very big art gallery and auction house in Paris, which can be described as the Christie's of France. Carla Bruni, the Italian wife of Nicholas Sarkozy who was the French president when the Rafale deal was inked, is a partner in this venture for the past two years.

Mme TAK is also owner of a sophisticated music recording house in Paris. Carla, who is also a pop singer, uses Mme TAK's studios for registering and issuing her albums.

She counts among her good friends Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Sonia's sisters who frequently visit her in France and stay in her chateau. Rahul Gandhi stayed with her when he went to France in early 2012.

Mme TAK owns vineyards in northern Colombia with jointly with rich Colombian families called Bettancourt and Katalli. Rahul Gandhi's former live in girl-friend Veronique is connected to the Kattallis.

Now comes the interesting point. Mme TAK is one of the shareholders of Dassault.
Carla Bruni is Italian born. She is related by marriage to Sonia Gandhi: Carla is a cousin of Sonia Gandhi's sister's daughter-in-law.

Discussions are still going on between India's defence ministry and Dassault, particularly on the 'offset' condition under which around 50% of the aircraft will have to be built by Indian manufacturers.

A couple of months ago, Moneylife wrote on the choice of the Rafale. The headline of the story was "Look out, Mr Antony, Little Brother is watching you".


http://www.moneylife.in/article/the-cur ... 26217.html

[ramana]

Looks like while 2Gs and allies were stealing the spectrum, the little goonda YSR was stealing the mineral wealth of whole state of AP!

EJs are being currently stripped of their land in AP.All except the Catholic church.

(Binamee means proxy)
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hp ... 5889_n.jpg

[Sushupti]

moved to humor thread

[Sushupti]

Rs 28 cr for paintings made by Defence Minister's wife! Now that's a stroke of genius

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/defe ... witterfeed

[Surya]

I believe it should be 'benami'

my god what a loot

Our old Rajahs and sundry are alive and living in new forms

How much greed can these @$@#%#%$ have ..seriously

This sort of loot can sustain multi generations

[Pranav]

Rs 28 cr for paintings made by Defence Minister's wife! Now that's a stroke of genius

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/defe ... witterfeed

Apparently Mrs Antony is denying it - see https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php? ... 7743204907

[Aditya_V]

Rs 28 cr for paintings made by Defence Minister's wife! Now that's a stroke of genius

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/defe ... witterfeed

Apparently Mrs Antony is denying it - see https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php? ... 7743204907

But not denyong the INR 3.5 Lac donation made by his wife when his declaration that He and his immediate family members have a total Net Worth of INR 1.92 Lac.

[Pranav]

DNA investigation: How Pranab’s sullied family-run agency fixed PSU recruitments - http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_dn ... ts_1704219

[Sushupti]

NDA's 2G skeletons set to tumble out, Pramod Mahajan and Arun Shourie likely to be named in CBI charge-sheet

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/2g-p ... 01620.html

[Sushupti]

Everything you’ve wanted to know about the 2G scam but didn’t know where to start

http://www.theunrealtimes.com/2012/02/0 ... -to-start/

[ramana]

The interesting thing is the feud between PC and PM is now settled with PM being nominated to be the President. Hope we see PC get his just dues.

[SaiK]

going to jail , getting arrested is all fine.. but I want the money back to gov books, once known about these criminals. did we get back the money from raja, kalmadi, etc?

[shyamd]

^^ +1 Excellent question. I wonder how much was recovered and what are the status of the recovery proceedings. Surely proceeds of bribery lead to money laundering and tax evasion charges/fines as well.

[paramu]

Our old Rajahs and sundry are alive and living in new forms

Why blame old Rajahs for current corrupt rulers?

If Rajas were corrupt and were impoverishing the population, the Europeans would never have bothered to come to India.

[Aditya_V]

NDA's 2G skeletons set to tumble out, Pramod Mahajan and Arun Shourie likely to be named in CBI charge-sheet

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/2g-p ... 01620.html

Yes Yes 2G scam was done by NDA in 2008. CBI proves loyalty

[Sanku]

NDA's 2G skeletons set to tumble out, Pramod Mahajan and Arun Shourie likely to be named in CBI charge-sheet

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/2g-p ... 01620.html

Yes Yes 2G scam was done by NDA in 2008. CBI proves loyalty

As does India Today.

Note the headline. Have already decided guilt on NDA part. (Also remember anti VKS article -- supposedly sanctioned by top political movers)

[SSridhar]

RAW says A.Raja had 'hawala' links

"Rajesh Jain, a Dubai-based individual and one of the promoters of the Chennai-based JG Group is reported to be associated with hawala dealings of Shri A Raja, former Union minister for Telecommunications and his other associates," RAW has told the agencies.

[Prasanna]

Cabinet decision on 2G auction price demolishes zero-loss theory
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/a ... 739078.ece

[RoyG]

Chidambaram off the hook. No evidence. Thank you SC.

[Shankk]

SC judges probably have been compromised. Yesterday's report that even though government distroyed the materials in radia case SC has still maintained a copy of it was just an attempt to trumpet their impartiality and credibility. However like many other institutions now it is SC who have been silenced. It was in the offing anyways. People have almost lost faith in the lower judicial at least as far as booking politicians is concerned so they started approaching the SC. Now SC will also not book politicians. Entire judicial system is compromised, Election commission(er) is under their wing, police and CBI they always kept under their thumb. Now the only obstacle remaining is CAG which will be downed soon then its all ghar ki kheti for the government. We are heading back to kingdom where the wellbeing of entire praja depends on how good one person or the group of them is.

[svenkat]

Theres no way on earth PC can be prosecuted.