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

[Vikas]

I had a interesting chat with the 2 people in my taxi from IGI. One was the Driver and other was his sort of helper.
Both had no idea of 2G spectrum scam as they found it hard to understand anything as it was too technical for them, so for them it was some scandal going on in newspapers and they didn't care too much about it.
Financial disparity and corruption at local level was a bigger concern for them.
They were more worried about the runaway inflation and Job security and providing good education to their kids.
So those who think INC would lose election only because of 2G or CWG Scam may not be right on the mark.
The UPA govt still may lose election but definitely scams would not be the most overriding reason.

[Vikas]

MMS and Sonia are corrupt and rotten to core, just as former PM ABV was.

====

CWG bribes = Rs 40000 cr (over seven years)
2G bribes = Rs 50000 cr (in few weeks)
....

Totals are crossing almost 1 lakh crore a year to 2 lakh crores a year. Let me put my answers to the two obvious questions :

1. who is getting this bribe money's lions share?
2. Where are they stashing this money?

The Nbjpr including PM, super-PM, SCjs etc now 100% slaves. There is now way all these slaves can keep so much rupees.

My take is : American Elitemen are collecting all these bribes in cash or kind, and then they are re-investing in India to take control over real estate, mineral mines, media and also Christianize India. The re-investment keeps Indian economy growing. But the control over economy/polity ensures that India's Military and manufacturing remains weak. So whenever American Elitemen want to take over India, US Military can it with ease. The high growth rate ensures that gullible activists keep believing that everything is hunky dory, and no system change is needed. And when US Military knocks door, there will be no time left to improve Military.
If India lets this bribery go on peacefully, India will become like SoKo - no Military, reasonably good economy, Christianity all over and US-puppies in polity. And if India resists, US will Iraq India.

So situation is much worse than what most BRites and non-BRites think. The beneficiaries of bribery are American Elitemen, not local Nbjprie.

America the superman which can play Indians dummies !!!!
Seriously RM-ji, everytime I think we start believing that there must be something right with what you are preaching, you come up with Zahid Hamidisque Conspiracy theory and that pretty much end of it.
How are you any different from commie scare-mongers for whom Yankees were coming and everyone making money was elite ?

[Sriman]

I had a interesting chat with the 2 people in my taxi from IGI. One was the Driver and other was his sort of helper.
Both had no idea of 2G spectrum scam as they found it hard to understand anything as it was too technical for them, so for them it was some scandal going on in newspapers and they didn't care too much about it.
Financial disparity and corruption at local level was a bigger concern for them.
They were more worried about the runaway inflation and Job security and providing good education to their kids.
So those who think INC would lose election only because of 2G or CWG Scam may not be right on the mark.
The UPA govt still may lose election but definitely scams would not be the most overriding reason.

Vikas, it's the same case with most of my acquaintances. Most know there is a scam but it's been filed along with the Telgi scam, Fodder scam etc. No one seems to realize the quantum of money involved. Or the extent to which the media has sold out. Mind you, i'm not accusing anyone here just my observation. The ~$40 Billion amount is simply staggering. I think there should be a comparison of that amount with the amount spent on primary education, healthcare etc every year for people to get an idea. I'm not very good at economics, i'll still try to give it a shot.

[shyamd]

The word on the street is that the action about the tapes is happening in Delhi.
Someone from the legal fraternity gave the tapes to Headlines Today first.

[Vikas]

Sriman, If there was an easier and quicker way of explaining the scam to people, it might still hold their attention.
The cab driver whom I was trying to explain the scam lost interest when the amount of money I mentioned was beyond both the comprehension of all 3 of us.
Still I believe an ordinary Indian would like to act and react in Honest way only if the top of the pyramid was not the den of mind blowing corruption.

[vera_k]

To borrow a trick from TN, maybe saying every family in <insert state> would have gotten a color TV would do the job? In TN, say that every family would have gotten a Tata Nano with the money?

[Sanku]

When ever it is clear that the blame clearly lies at the door of a few well connected powerful people -- a section of people always go mad about how it is a typical Indian problem and how all Indians are to blame (and of course all political parties are equal)

Pathetic.

[csharma]

http://www.rediff.com/news/report/how-c ... 101122.htm

How can a tainted man be CVC, says SC

The government placed the file relating to the appointment of P J Thomas as the Chief Vigilance Commissioner in the Supreme Court, which questioned as to how he would function in the post in view of a pending criminal case against him.

"Without looking into the file, we are concerned that if a person is an accused in a criminal case how will he function as CVC," a bench headed by Chief Justice S H Kapadia [ Images ] observed after Attorney General G E Vahanvati placed the file in a sealed cover.

[disha]

The service provider who got the licence unfairly by paying the bribe will make up his bribe+licence money and make his profit. He will pay tax on the profit. The govt has already made licence money+bribe.

Sorry sirjee, you are wrong on this one.

It is a license + revenue sharing policy. Govt. lost revenues in 2G, since with first come first serve basis., companies which did not operate in some 59 circles. This is actually double blow, first you lose revenues and second in those circles there is no good service assuming you have a service.

Now here is another rub, I could have paid say 100 crore bribe to get the license and immediately turned around and licensed the services to a 3rd party for say Rs. 1/- per year. Govt. gets 50 paise of that. And the cost to do the txn could be 1000 crore some or all of it handled offshore., govt. does not see a paisa of it.

This is plain scam nothing else.

[disha]

Sriman, If there was an easier and quicker way of explaining the scam to people, it might still hold their attention.
The cab driver whom I was trying to explain the scam lost interest when the amount of money I mentioned was beyond both the comprehension of all 3 of us.
Still I believe an ordinary Indian would like to act and react in Honest way only if the top of the pyramid was not the den of mind blowing corruption.

In USD, 40 Billion = 40,000 million = 4,00,000 lakhs! And at, 1 USD = 50 Rupees.

In simple terms, you gather 4 lakh persons and give each of them 50 lakhs of Rupees. If you give 10 lakh rupees to each family at the bottom than you would have lifted out some 80 lakhs (or say 1 crore) persons out of poverty.

Another statistic, each school and college gets 1 crore funding initially and 1 crore for next 99 years, you just funded 2000 schools and colleges for next 100 years.

MMS was sleeping at the wheel and hence the rupee stops at him. He should resign.

[abhischekcc]

High corruption and runaway inflation are connected - all those lakhs of crores have to appear some place, right? So they appear in the form of higher food prices, et al. They also appear in the form of higher land prices.

[jimmyray]

Sriman, If there was an easier and quicker way of explaining the scam to people, it might still hold their attention.
The cab driver whom I was trying to explain the scam lost interest when the amount of money I mentioned was beyond both the comprehension of all 3 of us.
Still I believe an ordinary Indian would like to act and react in Honest way only if the top of the pyramid was not the den of mind blowing corruption.

As Vera_K ji has suggested the best way to explain this mind boggling 2G scam to a commonn man is to use an example that he would understand. For e.g. to a Taxi driver might understand that all taxi drivers in India would have got a new Taxi for free for that money (assuming there are 4 million taxi drivers and each taxi costs 4 lakh rupees. Hope my maths is correct )

[Rahul Mehta]

Shiv,

Excellent analysis (aka prognosis).

So what are the DRAFTS of the Executive Notifications (aka medicine) do you propose?

===

Darshan thanks for posting this thought provoking article. The interesting thing about the widespread occurrence of personal greed that takes precedence over national interest is the difference in scale of consequences at a personal and national level.

If 50 crore consumers of electricity manage to avoid paying Rs 100 a month towards their electricity bills (by some form of cheating) the electricity boards will lose 60,000 crores a year. But the electricity boards are already making perhaps 10 times that amount - assume 600,000 crores. If one corrupt politician sets aside 1% of that for family and party and friends he makes 6000 crores. In this hypothetical scenario the country loses 66,000 crores but the country is still earning more 590,000 crores and every one of 50 crore consumers benefits a little from cheating. The minister benefits more. But everyone is cheating. Percentage wise the minister may be cheating less than a consumer who may be getting 10% less in his bill. The minister is taking only 1%.

Everyone feels happy that he is gaining a little. The country is not losing much. But a new problem arises when you try and correct this. Electricity boards take action to stop this theft (Various things are being done - won't go into detail). Small consumers get angry and may protest - but they can't do much. But the big politicians are unfazed by this. They are still skimming 1% of 6 lakh crore plus. If you try and stop them they react in ways where they say they will bring the country down. This is extremely common. It all depends on how powerful the corrupt man is:

Look at al the recent scams:
1) IPL scam: Modi not powerful - ran out of country
2) CWG scam: Kalmadi not powerful enough: Runs out of country
3) Karnataka mining scam: Reddy brothers very powerful. Threaten to bring down government. Nothing happens
4) Yediyurappa housing/land scam: Yeddi threatens to bring down the Karnataka government
5) 2G scam- Spectrum Raja is influential. The central government can lose DMK support and may fall. So nothing will happen.

The rise of regional parties is like the rise of regional satraps. Central parties ignore the corruption of regional parties. Regional power brokers ignore the corruption of their supporters. Each of these supporters bring votes by allowing a vote bank to gain advantage at the expense of the country. (eg keep a slum from being improved but bribe with sarees, TV sets etc)

The government at the center is is supported by a vast number of corrupt people who in turn are supported by corrupt people below them. Personal greed and survival of all the parties requires that all the corrupt people cooperate and not bring the government down. The only way the government can be brought down is by an alternate set of greedy and corrupt people with their own independent "grass roots" support.

In this sort of system if a great leader arises in say Karnataka and says that Karnataka is a fertile land with its own ports, its own infratsructure etc but the state is losing out because of a corrupt central government supporting corrupt people in BIMARU states the stage is being set for a powerful regional party that can affect the center (at best). At worst you can have a situation in which the state (Kanataka state) wants to break free as an independent republic. The movement can get stronger if Karnataka and Tamil Nadu can cooperate.

The country stays together ONLY because the people are basically patriotic for the land. But that patriotism does not go so far as to allow people to understand the message of how small acts of personal greed at every level translate up to massive greed and corruption at the top. Today I am a small man. I get great pleasure if I can retain 100 rupees from every 1000 rupees I handle. Tomorrow I win an election and I find myself handling the fate of 1000 crores. I retain only 1 crore for myself and feel I am less corrupt. But the fact is too many people are corrupt from bottom to top, top to bottom. Whichever way you want to look at it.

[Rahul Mehta]

Here is a precedent.
So how many union ministers have actually been prosecuted and sent to prison so far?
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/exuni ... il/427948/

Former Union Communications Minister Sukh Ram was sentenced to three years' imprisonment in a 13-year-old disproportionate assets case by a New Delhi court on Wednesday. A fine of Rs 2 lakh was also imposed on him under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

JM,

Did SR actually served 3 years in prison or did a corrupt HCj gave stay order and later a bail order? (eg ex-DIG SPS Rathore who had attempted to rape a 14 year old girl was sentenced for 2 years by HCj ,due to mass uproar, but later SCj took bribe and bailed him after six months). So pls do check if SR actually ever lives in prison.

[darshhan]

Rahul Mehta ji , It is highly unlikely that SukhRam actually stayed in jail for 3 years.It is very difficult to verify the extent of his stay anyway.An RTI activist might be able to find out.However even in case if he did stay in jail for the complete period , it is almost certain that he was provided with every comfort within the confines of jail itself aka 5-star stay.

As far as Rathore is concerned the less said is better.He was himself a police officer.And I can assure you , for him jail wouldn't have been any different than home.Trust me daily chicken and whiskey would be the norm rather than exception.

The problem is our whole political and administrative system which needs to be completely revamped.Otherwise justice would be the greatest casualty and without justice no nation state can survive.Sooner than later anarchy will prevail.

[sampat]

To borrow a trick from TN, maybe saying every family in <insert state> would have gotten a color TV would do the job? In TN, say that every family would have gotten a Tata Nano with the money?

Infographics is a great Idea. If anyone can come up with comparison data then i can ask few friends to make infographics.

This is the work that media manager of opposition party should be doing.

[amit]

^^^^^^

Infographics is a great idea.

However, I think one should understand that there are two sets of figures here and one shouldn't confuse the two.

One is the $40 billion or so amount that was lost to the exchequer on account of this scam - the so-called opportunity cost of the thievery indulged in by you know who.

The other is the $X millions (or billions) in bribes that were paid out by the beneficiary companies like UniTech and others who got those licenses.

By the very nature of corruption X<$40 billion (minus the amount that was officially collected as spectrum license) as otherwise the companies have no incentive to bribe for the licenses.

For punishment of the guilty and to understand the extent of the corruption one needs to find out this second figure: X. Otherwise all this talk of this person getting this percentage of the loot and that person getting that percentage of the loot is meaningless.

I may have missed it but S Swamy hasn't come out with a figure (guesstimate) of the value of X has he?

And yes while the likes of Raja and his cronies in the Ministry must be punished, the buck stops with the PM and Cong President since they are ultimately responsible. Both in this case as well as in the CWG scam.

[SSridhar]

IIRC, Subramanyam Swamy mentioned a figure like 30000 Cr. as money changing hands.

[SSridhar]

Interestingly the DMK which has distributed color TV sets to voters can claim that money made illegally from this scam is being used for the people's benefit.

This scam money was possibly used in buying votes in the elections. There has been widespread allegations that voters were paid at least a 1000 Rs each in the last Assembly Election plus subsequent by-polls.

[Pratyush]

How has money ecxhanged hands in this case? I have been trying to understand since the begining of the thread and the issue. The Scandel is about the nation losing 176000 crs due to faulty valuations.

Not that much bribes were taken by the concerned parties. Also, if in fact bribes were exchanged. Then it has to be paid by every single one of the telecome operater's who got a licence.

Which implies that they have acted as a group and paid a bribe to alter / subvert the policy ??

Or I am completely missing the point?

[amit]

IIRC, Subramanyam Swamy mentioned a figure like 30000 Cr. as money changing hands.

How much would that be in dollars? Around $6.6 billion? (Please correct me if I'm wrong, I always get confused in this crore rupees to billion dollars conversion).

I guess that's the money trail we need to look at. By any standards it's a huge sum of money.

[amit]

How has money ecxhanged hands in this case? I have been trying to understand since the begining of the thread and the issue. The Scandel is about the nation losing 176000 crs due to faulty valuations.

Not that much bribes were taken by the concerned parties. Also, if in fact bribes were exchanged. Then it has to be paid by every single one of the telecome operater's who got a licence.

Which implies that they have acted as a group and paid a bribe to alter / subvert the policy ??

Or I am completely missing the point?

Actually that figure 176000 cr is a guesstimate based on a number of factors AFAIK.

They are:

1) The amount those who didn't get the licenses were willing to pay;
2) The valuations that accrued when companies like Unitech offloaded shares; and
3) The comparison with valuations arrived at during the 3G auctions.

Talking about the 3G auctions, its interesting that Raja was not allowed to play the same game with them. So was the 2G a pay off of some kind?

Re bribes: I doubt if the telco operators acted in concert to pay the bribes as it makes no sense as otherwise they should have all paid the same amount for the licenses. I would suspect Raja struck individual deals with each party. In which case the figure of 30,000 cr which S Swamy claims was paid out would have to be an addition of all the bribes paid.

JMT

[Sanku]

Not that much bribes were taken by the concerned parties. Also, if in fact bribes were exchanged. Then it has to be paid by every single one of the telecome operater's who got a licence.

Which implies that they have acted as a group and paid a bribe to alter / subvert the policy ??

Well here goes -- this has been covered in the Pioneer article posted earlier however the overall modus operandi is

1) Giving licenses to front companies, i.e. the companies themselves had benami holding of people collecting bribes, they later sold the licenses
2) Selective leaking of information and collection of payment in lieu -- for example what the policy is going to be
3) Payments for NOT making a policy which means stricter rules -- this was paid by large Industrial houses trying to make sure the existing players are muscled out.

To achieve the above suitable policies were drafted
First come first serve with unclear rules of "who is in first" instead of a more transparent bidding.

Announcing the date for filing suddenly, (two days before the day) on the web site without giving a intimation

Giving out all the licenses in a very short period of time.

Very very relaxed rules for who can bid, let even a random Burgerwala bid, thus ensuring a large turnout of shady characters to corner licenses instead of genuine buyers.

[Pratyush]

But if the licences were to be granted on a first come first served basis. Then the telcos who paid the bribes also had to be the first ones in the licence que as well. No?

Defeates the purpose of paying the bribe it self.

The simplest way of finding out who paid and who didnot will be to look at who was in the que and when. This could be ascertained by studing the reciept numbers each of the telco recieved in return for the fee and application. If you have a discrepency in the reciept numbers and the serial no of the licence ( Exception being incometent application or the DD itself ) then you could be looking at a malicious act inside the DOT.

Als, as far as I am aware none of the Telcos who did not get the licence aledged irregularities in the first come first served process of alloting licence it self. So primia facia that process was clean. Or they decided to form a que before hand and then made the applications.

Which again points to the possibility of the industry acting in collusion. The shear numbers of players precludes the possibility of that taking place.

So what is the truth?

[Pratyush]

Sanku,

The shear number of players acting in concert to accomplish this is mind boggling. If what you have posted indeed happened.

The whole excercise is a logistical & organisational nightemare. That it was carried out sucessfuly deserves an applause for the magenerial skill of those who pulled it off.

JMT

[Sanku]

But if the licences were to be granted on a first come first served basis. Then the telcos who paid the bribes also had to be the first ones in the licence que as well. No?

Yes, partially, the favored companies were told in advance what the "real" date was and the date was announced at a very short notice, much before it was unofficially communicated that the process would open. Then a crowd of front companies swamped the system and finished the licenses in 5 hours flat.

One method to ensure the favored companies got in. Note all the companies that got in did not have to pay bribes since they were actually owned entirely by the guilty people.

So they gave themselves the licenses.

The entire process was manipulated to ensure that the above could happen.

The simplest way of finding out who paid and who didnot will be to look at who was in the que and when.

Too simple, this would be very easily caught. The process was a little more sophisticated, as described before.

Als, as far as I am aware none of the Telcos who did not get the licence aledged irregularities in the first come first served process of alloting licence it self.

NO Telco has alleged anything at all, they would not, they were threatened to shut up and behave. Listen to the tapes.

[Sanku]

The shear number of players acting in concert to accomplish this is mind boggling. If what you have posted indeed happened.

All the people do not need to know all the details. The method is

1) Set up a enabling environment (through policies)
2) Co-opt SOME important players
3) Set up many dummy players, who are fronts but dont know much themselves about items 1-2, they are just told to go bid.
4) Original players make money.

BTW, A LOT of this has been exposed by Pioneer already since 2006 time frame, they are the first and basic reason to force a 3G auction.

Its just that to most people (unlike most on BRF who read Pioneer regularly) didnt pay attention to it and it was not a MAINSTREAM media news.

But yes this IS huge, this is Congress and all its constituents working in hand (all the Burka Dutt's of the world)

[geeth]

>>>Rahul Mehta ji , It is highly unlikely that SukhRam actually stayed in jail for 3 years.

If my memory serves me right, the usual thing happened. He died before the criminal case was over.

No wonder why our Neta/Babus are so bold...they know very well that none of them upto their great grand children would be touched during their lifetime. In the end the case will be dismissed for lack of...err...evidence.

[shiv]

Point of order:

I want to sell you permission (a licence) to fondle me

There are people who would pay Rs 10 for this

But I sell it to you for Rs 2.

Considering that I have earned Rs 2 by selling the licence have I lost money?

I have "lost" a potential earning of Rs 10. But I have not directly lost money.

That is what Raja did. The CAG says he could have earned 170K crore. But he sold it for less. But teh CBI says that it will be impossible to "prove" that the licences were worth 170K crore. They are looking at a lower figure - but that is also vulgar amount.

[Rahul Mehta]

MMS and Sonia are corrupt and rotten to core, just as former PM ABV was.

====

CWG bribes = Rs 40000 cr (over seven years)
2G bribes = Rs 50000 cr (in few weeks)
....

Totals are crossing almost 1 lakh crore a year to 2 lakh crores a year. Let me put my answers to the two obvious questions :

1. who is getting this bribe money's lions share?
2. Where are they stashing this money?

The Nbjpr including PM, super-PM, SCjs etc now 100% slaves. There is now way all these slaves can keep so much rupees.

My take is : American Elitemen are collecting all these bribes in cash or kind, and then they are re-investing in India to take control over real estate, mineral mines, media and also Christianize India. The re-investment keeps Indian economy growing. But the control over economy/polity ensures that India's Military and manufacturing remains weak. So whenever American Elitemen want to take over India, US Military can it with ease. The high growth rate ensures that gullible activists keep believing that everything is hunky dory, and no system change is needed. And when US Military knocks door, there will be no time left to improve Military.
If India lets this bribery go on peacefully, India will become like SoKo - no Military, reasonably good economy, Christianity all over and US-puppies in polity. And if India resists, US will Iraq India.

So situation is much worse than what most BRites and non-BRites think. The beneficiaries of bribery are American Elitemen, not local Nbjprie.

America the superman which can play Indians dummies !!!!
Seriously RM-ji, everytime I think we start believing that there must be something right with what you are preaching, you come up with Zahid Hamidisque Conspiracy theory and that pretty much end of it.
How are you any different from commie scare-mongers for whom Yankees were coming and everyone making money was elite ?

VR,

US is not so superman, and Indians are not dummy. But Indian neta have been corrupt and so India have been weak economy despite brains and hard working people. And I dont believe that everyone making money is bad. But yes, US elitemen do want to convert India into Philippines or SoKo, and if India resists, US elitemen want to Iraq India. Does that look too far fetched for you? Well, good luck with "Dilli door hai".

The problem is our whole political and administrative system which needs to be completely revamped.Otherwise justice would be the greatest casualty and without justice no nation state can survive.Sooner than later anarchy will prevail.

I agree that we need to "revamp the system" i.e. write Drafts of 10s of Government Notifications. The first DRAFT I have proposed is in http://rahulmehta.com/001.pdf and other 50-70 drafts are in http://rahulmehta.com/301.pdf . Pls pass the drafts to all, and if anyone has drafts better than these, please do let me know. Thanks.

====

How US elitemen made money from scam

1. US elitemen ordered their slaves namely MMS, Sonia, Raja to create policy of first cum first served and set the price to low say mere Rs 50 cr per circle.

2. US elitemen use their other Indian slaves to set up dummy companies A, B, C , D ...

3. Raja tells US elitemen's chief-coordinator that license notice will issued on 10 am on say 15-apr-2008. So at 9.30 am, all the agents of dummy companies are in Raja's office

4. Raja put first cum first notice at 10 am. And before anyone hears the news, by 10.30 am, all licenses are give to dummy companies A, B, C etc

5. The dummy companies sell license of Rs 50 cr to actual Telco for say Rs 500 cr. So Rs 450 cr is pocketed by US elitemen. Total money US elitemen made = say Rs 450 cr per circle. Total money US elitemen made from all circles = say Rs 30,000 cr = Total money GoI lost

6. US elitemen give some bakshish to their slaves Raja, MMS, Sonia, ToI, and their pets in BJP, CPM as well . The slaves altogether get say Rs 3000 cr. US elitemen keep neat RS 27000 cr

7. US elitemen invest Rs 20,000 in Indian economy to buy land, increase wages etc. So local businesses go out of business as they can no longer afford these land prices and wages. And US elitemen ensure that India doesnt become manufacturing power.

8. US elitemen give Rs 7000 to Christianists in India.

Thus our own bandwidth is used against us by US elitemen.

====

Can a BRite rise and put URLs to all audio tapes in chronological order? And make a table with 4 columns ----- Date - Duration - persons who talked - Important Remarks. Thanks in advance.

[AjayKK]

Yes, partially, the favored companies were told in advance what the "real" date was and the date was announced at a very short notice, much before it was unofficially communicated that the process would open. Then a crowd of front companies swamped the system and finished the licenses in 5 hours flat.

Refer to this DNA epaper report : Anatomy of a scam.

Link

It details all irregularities in the scam.

The friends of Raja completed all formalities in 1 hour and 15 minutes flat. As per this news

Raja's favourites, who knew of the press release in advance, were able to be ready with performance bank guarantees, financial bank guarantee and other requirements in time. What's more, the auditor found that 13 applicants were ready with demand drafts drawn on dates prior to the press release being issued, proof that they were aware of the minister's move.

[Muppalla]

Supreme Court Gives Government Another Bad Day

The great boil-lancing of Indian corruption which we appear to be witnessing became even more surreal Monday when the Supreme Court once again questioned the government, this time over whether a senior official could credibly do his job because he has charges pending against him.

Which servant? The recently-appointed head of the Central Vigilance Commission, the body entrusted with ensuring that the Indian government operates without graft.

P.J. Thomas was named head of the CVC in September despite having charges pending against him in an alleged palm-oil scam in Kerala in the 1990s. He has not been prosecuted. He could not be reached for comment today at his office or home. A government lawyer told the Supreme Court he was not involved.

But for the second time in a week, the Supreme Court made an observation that has put the government on its back foot over questions of ethics. Last week, two Supreme Court justices questioned why Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had not responded more quickly to a request for a probe into the allocation of second-generation telecom spectrum in 2008 by telecom minister A. Raja.

Mr. Raja has since resigned in one of the biggest corruption scandals to hit New Delhi in years, after an audit office found that the government was deprived of as much as $40 billion in license fees. The government has said the Prime Minister was not at fault but the allegation, combined with the spectrum irregularities, have created the biggest crisis of his premiership.

Monday, it was the turn of the Chief Justice of India, S.H. Kapadia, who reportedly asked from the bench while hearing a challenge to Mr. Thomas’s appointment, whether Mr. Thomas could effectively do his job.

The government’s top lawyer, Attorney General G.E. Vahanvati then added to the bizarreness of the incident by asserting that if “impeccable integrity” becomes an eligibility requirement for all top posts then it will open all judicial and constitutional appointments to scrutiny.

Given the current environment, that sounds like a jolly good idea. Mr. Vahanvati later said to NDTV that his comments certainly didn’t mean that public servants were not required to have integrity but he made the distinction between “eligibility” and “suitability” –a distinction that may, we respectfully submit, resonate with a roomful of lawyers more than with the public at large.

[Muppalla]

I am posting in total as someone created transcript of the tapes. This site is going up and down due to bandwidth issues.

Radia Tapes… How top Journalists have turned handmaidens of Ambani Brothers

By Girish Nikam


The Niira Radia Tapes which has caused a storm, after a part of it was published in both the Open and Outlook magazines this week, but picked up by only Mail Today newspaper partly, and ignored by all other newspapers and TV channels, shows the extent to which the rot has set in, in our systems.

While the conversations between Radia and Raja, Kanimozhi and Ranjan Bhattacharya(foster son-in-law of Atal Behari Vajpayee) indicates the nexus between the power brokers calling themselves as lobbyists or Corporate communicators acting on behalf of top corporate Houses like the Tatas, Ambanis and Mittals, and the politicians, there is another nexus which is equally if not far more worrying.

That is the nexus between the media hot shots and these power brokers. Niira Radia in a short period of a decade or even less, seems to have established such a hold over the top media houses, that they virtually seem to be at her beck and call. They even try to ingratiate themselves with her, by leaking information to her, about their own media houses and about others in the media. Journalism is all about developing contacts and using the contacts to write stories and articles which are unbiased and useful to the reading public.

But what this nexus indicates is that these journalists are playing into the hands of these power brokers and serving their vested interests. But what is the most shocking revealation is that most of these top journalists have become willy nilly players in the fight between the two Ambani brothers. Niira Radia who represents Mukesh Ambani does not leave any stone unturned to use the journalists to fight her battles for her boss with his brother, even as these journalists eat out of her hands.

The names that figure in the so far un-published extracts of these conversations(accessed from audio tapes put out by Outlook magazine on its website), are from respected media Houses like Economic Times, Hindustan Times, NDTV among others. It is amazing how Radia uses them. These conversations, with audio links at the end of every extract, tells a sad story of how some of the biggest names in the business of media, stands exposed, if not for corruption per se(as no quid pro quo is still established), atleast for being handmaidens of the corporate houses and their power brokers.

More of these transcripts will follow in the coming days, exposing several other nexus. Read on :

M.K.Venu, then one of the Senior Editors of Economic Times, now Managing Editor, Financial Express(June 16,2009, 8.05.15 p.m)

Niira Radia to Venu—- What does Mrs.(Kokilaben) Ambani know about natural gas, she knows about cooking gas, with due respect to her.—– You know she is very upset with Amar Singh, because she thinks only after came into Anil Ambani’s life, family has broken up. And she told me in Gujarati, all these kidney problems which Amar Singh has, is her curse on him.

http://business.outlookindia.com/view.a ... 200515.wav

Another Conversation between Radia and Venu, July 9,2009, 08.47.33 a.m

Venu to Radia—- You saw Rohini’s story, it has appeared today. It is tucked away inside. But In ET you cant miss anything, it is the lead story on that page. In Bombay(edition) I think (Manoj)Modi( Mukesh Ambani’s right hand man) has done, whatever the neutralization campaign. Rohini told me that in Bombay, it says, Modi added, “top officials of Anil Ambani feels that—“.

Radia to Venu— You know Ganapathy(Subramaniam) has been chasing me you know, I have to letter of the Andhra Chief Minister.

Venu to Radia— “oh , oh oh oh”

Radia to Venu— I don’t want to give to Ganapathy you know? I am bit scared to give it to him, and then see that it gets killed. What do you think I should do?

Venu to Radia— Andhra Chief Minister—

Radia to Venu— He has given a—– he has written to the Prime Minister—a scathing attack.

Venu to Radia— accha? Remember two years ago he was singing the Anil Ambani’s tune?

Radia to Venu— No, no, you know basically he is quite neutral.—- He is also talking of Andhra, he says the state is reeling under lack of power—– and he is you know pretty mad about it. You know I can read it out to you, shall I read it out—– (she reads out the letter).

Venu to Radia— It’s a very strong letter yeah! Does the EGOM exist still?

Radia to Venu— No , he says you had and now urge you do something about it again.

Venu to Radia—— He says he wants ten percent of the gas in preferential basis for Andhra’s needs right?

Radia to Venu—– yeah, because it was running his state. But they have 2,400 MW of power for which they need gas for desperately—- So kya karoon(what do I do?) I don’t want it tucked away you know.

Venu to Radia— Isko, Niira objective advice, isko kisi akhbar ko do, jo isko lead flyer carry kare(give it a newspaper, which will carry it as lead flyer)(incidentally Venu himself was in Economic Times at that time). This simple logic you know. Aur ya toh, isko CNBC(Business TV channel) ko do abhi. Then these people, you know, will be adequately provoked you know. If CNBC carries it as the lead, you know, ten times a day, then everybody will start running around like helter skelter, you know. Don’t you agree with me?

Radia to Venu— I agree with you. Yeah maybe I should that

Venu to Radia— Yeah I am telling you, otherwise, you know, that’s the only way to sensitise people to true value of stories no( ha ha ha).

Radia to Venu— Correct, correct.

Radia to Venu—- I told Ravi(dhariwal, CEO of Times Group), if he(Anil Ambani) is giving you Rs.5 crore of advertisement, why are you doing this? Are you personally compromised, I asked Ravi.—–

Radia To Venu— You know I want you to do the interview of Ratan Tata, but I cant take your name directly, if I do they will know that we both are talking, so how do I work around that?

Venu to Radia— ummmm,( a pause),abhi, you know at this stage let Swami(Swaminathan Aiyar) do the interview, —-I will come with him.

Radia to Venu— Yeah that’s ok !——

Venu to Radia— (changes his mind) toh abhi, You know Niira, I will tell you, you insist that only Swami alone come for the interview. You know abhi, if you insist on me, there will be an issue, you know what between you and me, all this – to Samir Jain also. Samir Jain has a completely kinky mind and he likes people like Bodhi, who are, you know, editors who are supine and you know and who are cringing before him and who are crawling before their ass to paint. And you know people like me and TK(), we test their mind you know, we do baseline play, we explore the line atleast na. So my only sense is that this V.C.Shroff is pissed off. He will be fingering me big time.

Radia to Venu— Its ok, I will wait, next time when you are in Bombay, I will fix a time for you with him(Tata), I have told him a lot about you. He likes to meet people, you know who are intellectually stimulating.

Conversation shifts to Mukesh Ambani and Ratan Tata meeting Samir Jain, which Venu suggests. Radia says both have refused to meet him, and have told that if they carry negative story or no story its fine. The following conversation

Venu to Radia— Is a letter to MD possible?

Radia to Venu– From MDA(Mukesh Ambani) to Samir Jain?

Venu to Radia— yeah, broadly saying that, you know, it can sort of say that, Congratulations for launch ET Now, and then he can raise this issue(gas pricing and problem between the two brothers, Anil and Mukesh), and say that there is this raging issue which involves national interest, and we hope that your papers(Times of India and Economic Times) takes a stand which is keeping with—- (ha ha)lagao you know. No?

Radia to Venu— ummmmm, maybe.

Radia to Venu—- What do you think of Sanjoy Narayan(Editor, Hindustan Times)?

Venu to Radia—– Sanjoy Narayan has an old friendship with Tony(Jesudasan)(Anil Ambani’s PR man)—- and Anil also keeps meeting Sanjoy Narayan, fairly regular intervals you know.—-

Radia to Venu— I think Shobana(Bartiya, MD Of Hindustan Times group) has told Sanjoy, that as far as we(Mukesh Ambani group) are concerned, the position that our paper(Hindustan Times) will take is that this is an issue of national interest and for someone who doesn’t have one MW of power, I am certainly not going to support him(Anil Ambani).

Venu to Radia—Absolutely yeah.

Radia to Venu— (shobhana says) and he is not going to add value to anyone’s life and I don’t want this thing, and therefore you(Sanjoy Narayan) better play straight.

Venu to Radia— Yeah, yeah, that’s a good thing actually. I am also told that Anil Ambani had some little role to play in Sanjoy coming to HT you know, This is what people—.

Radia to Venu—-yeah, he goes through Mukul(?) and all that, and he socializes with Shobhana in the evening, yeah. Vir told me that.——

Venu to Radia—-Is Manoj(Modi) in town today?

Radia to Venu— Yeah he is here, he will leave this evening. We are meeting Prannoy(roy of NDTV) today. You know we need to support Prannoy.

Venu to Radia— yeah, you know he is a straight guy, you know, at the end of the day, he doesn’t play games, you know.

Radia to Venu— That’s right.

Venu to Radia— yeah, I once told you, NDTV is a channel which has a certain credibility with political class also.

Radia to Venu— Absolutely.

Venu to Radia— They believe what NDTV says you know. This is an organisation, any case commercially not so well off, so they think that theek hai, this is a bit like (Indian) Express, apna chugging along in terms of money, but still keeping to certain minimum standards of credibility, you know. That Prannoy has, so most congressmen would believe NDTV rather than CNN-IBN or something. So there’s a strong credibility there.

Radia to Venu— That’s right yeah.—-

Venu to Radia— (back to Gas pricing issue) The problem is Niira, you know, about 15 years ago in Indian journalism, atleast four-five top editors , would have written—a strong piece, you know, but today, on the lines of national interest, whatever rationally allocate national resources. But today do you loo around, you see any editor picking any sort of, you know, build kind of consensus or trying to raise this debate to that level, but today you know, all the editors are preoccupied in advertising and branding(ha ha). I mean, can you imagine Sanjoy Narayan writing a strong piece in HT. He has never written a piece, barring he writes a column on music. I mean it would have been shocking 20 years ago, if somebody were told that the Editor of Hindustan Times writes a music column(ha ha ha). You know, editors used to write regular columns you know, once in ten days, aa, on national issues you know. You know this is what journalism has come to, you know.

Radia to Venu—- ummm, I notice that this guys(Anil Ambani) didn’t get their way in TDSAT yesterday. Did you guys carry that story?

Venu to Radia— Yeah, yeah, we did I think.—– ummmm, So you are here for couple of days?

Radia to Venu— Yeah till tomorrow.

Venu to Radia— So keep me posted if anything happens, ha?

Radia to Venu— sure, sure, bye.

http://business.outlookindia.com/view.a ... 084733.wav

(There are more tapes of conversations between the Radia and Venu, some of which have bee published in Outlook magazine, already).

Conversation between Barkha Dutt, Managing Editor, NDTV and Manoj Modi, the right hand man of Mukesh Ambani, July 9,2009, 4.14.11 p.m

Radia to Barkha—- Hii, one second, Manoj(Modi) wants to speak to you.

Manoj to Barkha—- Hii Barkha, sorry couldn’t say bye to you yesterday night. Parimal(Nathwani, Rajya Sabha member from Jhakhand) was remembering you yesterday night.

Barkha to Manoj—– Oh, he , he once saved my life for the plane you know. It was nice to meet you, Manoj, kabhi aap ko fursat hoga toh we should meet araam se(whenever you are free we should meet freely), without the crowd.

Mano t Barkha— yeah, yeah, we will meet, but Parimal is my cousin brother, I have brought Parimal to Reliance.

Barkha to Manoj—- Reallyyyy!!! I didn’t know that, ohh, I didn’t know that, ohhh.

Manoj to Barkha—- yeah, yeah, yeah.

Barkha to Manoj— you please give him my regards, aur aap kabhi dilli aaye toh fursat mein, not that you have any thing like fursat, but if ever you—

Manoj to Barkha— no, no,no, you know I never come to Delhi, but I came only for this(?) last night, only for this purpose I have come.

Barkha to Manoj—- It was very helpful Manoj, it was really very helpful. But then maybe main aapke saath—-( gets disconnected).

http://business.outlookindia.com/view.a ... 161411.wav

Extracts of a conversation between Niira Radia and Vir Sanghvi, discussing an interview with Mukesh Ambani, June20, 2009, 12.09.59 p.m

Niira Radia to Vir Sanghvi— On this(gas pricing issue) we need to get Mukesh(Ambani) to come out and talk(on TV). But it has to be verbatim, whatever he says should be there.

Vir Sanghvi to Radia—- Advantage Mukesh has is that he can come out and talk, unlike Anil Ambani who has so many skeletons in his cupboard. Mukesh has no such problems, he can talk, he can work out a script in advance, he can rehearse.—- If Mukesh is on board he should realize it has to be fully scripted.—- I have to come in and rehearse with him, before the camera comes.

http://business.outlookindia.com/view.a ... 120959.wav

Conversation between Prabhu Chawla and Niira Radia, starts off with Radia seeking a perspective from him(“you always have great perspective on everything”) on the “great Bombay High court judgement o Gas pricing issue”.

Prabhu Chawla to Niira Radia(she calls him)—– Where is Mukesh? I kept calling him, sometimes he responds. I have stopped calling him. I wanted to forewarn him (that HC judgement on Gas is coming against him, ha ha ha).

Radia to Prabhu— tell me, prabhu, judgement is fixed hai na?

Prabhu to Radia— is desh mein hain na—- dono(bhai) fixe kar sakte hai(judgement). ——- Mukesh still depends on his old network, maybe his wife also dominates him—- the way things are moving, Mukesh, poor fellow is not able to get the right feedback.—- convey to Mukesh that the way he is going about the supreme court, is not the right thing.— I won’t tell you more than that.—-

Radia to Prabhu— Ok I will ask him(Mukesh) to speak to you.

Prabhu to Radia— That’s why I wanted to talk to him, I sent him ten messages, he doesn’t reply.he doesn’t pick up my calls.—– MY son is a retainer of Anil Ambani(as a lawyer)—- but he is not involved in this at all. But he keeps hearing things na. —- He is running his own solicitor firm.—- You tell him(Mukesh), that Prabhu was telling something about London, he will understand. Chota Bhai( younger brother, anil Ambani) bahut haraami hai na( is a crook).

http://business.outlookindia.com/view.a ... 143207.wav

Conversation between Niira Radia and Ganapathy Subramanian(Ganu), A senior Editor at Economic Times, July 9,2009, 10.36.31 p.m

Ganapathy Subramanaim(Ganu) to Niira Radia— Did you see all the crazy things they were doing today. Ask the media they will tell you.They were passing on all the car numbers to everybody.

Radia to Ganu—- Yeah, yeah, we are not bothered.— You know Ganu, we have taken a decision, Mukesh(Ambani), was in town, he has told us, ignore ET(Economic Times, ET Now). If they behave like idiots, let them, just ignore them. Talk to only those who matter. Barring you(Ganu) and Venu and TK, we are not going to, Soma and they had come, they talked a load of nonsense with Manoj Modi, and, quite frankly if they want to behave like a tabloid, let them behave like that.

Ganu to Radia—an—d, an—d , aaah, somebody is passing on information everywhere, I don’t know how, what.

Radia to Ganu— like?

Ganu to Radia— Like who are all meeting Manoj( Warrier or Modi?), and like all those things you know.

Radia to Ganu— That AP CMs, letter I will give you, but not now.

Ganu to Radia— yeah, yeah, no problem, no hurry.

Radia to Ganu— I wont give if its not front page news. —– General you will ensure it na?

Ganu to Radia— yeah, yeah, yeah

Ganu to Radia—- maybe I should talk to you on another number.

Radia to Ganu— Why, you think they are monitoring my number?

Ganu to Radia— I don’t know, might be possible.

Radia to Ganu— You call me on my Indicom number, I will give you a missed call.

Ganu to Radia— OK, but you know once the hearing(in Supreme court on Gas issue), everything will be —

Radia to Ganu— Ok, but Ganu you have to be briefed on it. You haven’t been briefed about us. Let’s make some time tomorrow.

http://business.outlookindia.com/view.a ... 223631.wav

After a day of hectic lobbying with various TV channel heads and Editors of newspapers in Delhi, by Manoj Modi(right hand man of Mukesh Ambani), accompanied by Niira Radia—- Conversation between her CEO Manoj Warrier and Radia taking stock of the day and planning for next day( July 8,2009, 10.42.22 p.m)

Radia to Manoj(Warrier) — umm, you called.

Manoj to Radia— All well?

Radia to Manoj—- I think it went off very well, Manoj, although I am exhausted.

Manoj to Radia—- Imagine how much he(Manoj Modi) must be exhausted. He was—

Radia to Manoj— Yeah, yeah—you know how many calls, I had to handle my business meetings in between— I had to handle ten things in between I was going out. Oh god, I got to work on those things now. Listen, they were brilliant meetings, and this is something, I think a lot of this will turn the tide ah! You know Mon, You should have heard Arindam(Editor, Times of India) you know he called me back. Maine bol diya isko(Manoj Modi), I told him you know, he was coming down with me to meet Parimal (Nathwani, Rajya Sabha MP and cousin of Manoj Modi), Jo bhi ho jaye you are going to do this and you are going to continue. Dekho mere se milna doosri baat hoti hai.Aur tum logon se milna alag baat hai. Aur yeh issue sirf tum log hi poora explain kar sakte ho, hum log, yeh nahin hai ki hum ko nahin aata explain karna, Lekin yeh baat tumhari hai, tumhari family(Ambani) issue hai, you know. Anyway, he has understood.

Manoj to Radia— you met Parimal too?

Radia to Manoj—–yeah, yeah, he was downstairs sulking away. (ha ha ha ha ha—Manoj). I don’t care about him. You know me no. I am into this slice(?) only for these two guys(presumably, Mukesh Ambani and Mano Modi), I am not bothered about the rest. But good, it went off very well. And manoj, he was very happy, very happy( Manoj— very good). I think he is happy with quality of the meetings, the type of people, you know. And I hope that you are pleased that this happened.

Manoj to Radia— No, no, I am happy very happy, you know—

Radia to Manoj— He(Manoj Modi) told me to apologise to you for snapping at you, for he didn’t want to get into the GSMA, he told me “Please Manoj ko keh dena I am very sorry, main khud Manoj ko kehnawala tah, lekin, I didn’t want the discussion to go that way, kyonki tangent mein chala jaata. Please keh dena, I didn’t mean to do that.

Manoj to Radia—Theek hai, koi baat nahin.

Radia to Manoj— He is a bit this thing. —- you know Sethuraman was watching out of the window when I went to drop Anjani.(Manoj—who?) Sethuraman, I told Anjani, Sethuraman is watching.—-

Radia to Manoj— Anyway, tomorrow Ninan(T.N, Editor Business Standard), 10.30 a.m, I have told him(Manoj Modi) to be aggressive. When I am in NDTV you inform Razdaan(of PTI), Manoj Modi is in town, so why don’t you come to the chambers. Niira will come some other time to PTI. Tell him, you both come, we will talk at the Editor-level. He will be pleased he will come, put it that way, Manoj aaya hua hai.

Manoj to Radia— TCA Srinivas Raghavan wanted Modi to come to BS and address the whole bureau and all. I told him let it be just a couple of guys, maybe later the bureau thing sometimes.

Radia to Manoj—- Ram(N.Ram of Hindu) has agreed to meet Mukesh, you know.Ram and Venu(k.Venugopal, Editor Businessline), are both coming to Bombay next week. Who call aa gay tah.

Manoj to Radia—- Very good, very good.

Manoj to Radia— accha, kal NDTV, pehle Ninan and then NDTV ke office jana hai na?

Radia to Manoj—Haan NDTV ke office, Barkha will be there. And whoever, Prannoy is going to be in a phone-in and all that, and then NDTV Profit se, and then

Manoj to Radia— There are some major changes in NDTV Profit—– Kuch toh friction hua hai.

Radia to Manoj— Shelly ko aur Shivnath ko?

Manoj to Radia— Shelly ko, Shivnath ko nahi hua hai(shift) shayad. —— CNBC ke meeting ko aapko kaisa laga( How did you think the CNBC meeting went?)

Radia to Manoj— Good, Good. What do you think?

Manoj to Radia— I think Raghav(Behl of TV 18) set the tone.

Radia to Manoj— Very light hearted and very cool. I think it was ok. You are OK with Raghav now na?

Manoj to Radia— Haan, its ok, Raat gayi baat gai, who bhi journalist hai, main bhi PR wala hoon.

http://business.outlookindia.com/view.a ... 224211.wav

MORE TO FOLLOW IN THE COMING DAYS

[shiv]

Nira Radia
http://www.noesis.in/nira.htm

Ms. Nira Radia : Director

Ms. Nira has been an entrepreneur for more than 25 years, with extensive consultancy experience in the Aviation, Travel, Tourism and the Communication industry.

She has conducted business with some of the most prestigious and leading brand names in the Aviation and Travel businesses besides a host of corporate companies. Her client list spans some of the world's largest aircraft leasing companies of which some are ILFC, Singapore Airlines and AAR. She has also worked with manufacturers and service providers, like AAR, Airbus and Venada Avtec, etc. She has represented various international and domestic airlines including SIA, KLMuk and Sahara Airlines.

She began her consultancy career in the filed of Aviation, Infrastructure and Telecommunications Projects. She is one of the few professionals in the country, who can boast of such wide depth of understanding and domain expertise in the area of Strategic Business Communications and the business environment in general. In the early 1990s, she identified India as an important business destination and decided to establish her base in India. Having advised the likes of Airbus and over the years and many projects later, she admirably executed one of her most well known business consulting mandates, as an advisor to the Singapore Airlines - Tata Consortium on the Air India divestment process. As a founder promoter to India's leading communications consultancy firm, Vaishnavi Corporate Communications, she has continued to be engaged with prestigious clients such as the Tata Group companies, the likes of TCS, Tata Steel, Tata Motors, VSNL, Tata Teleservices, Indian Hotels, Trent International, Titan, Sun Microsystems, ITC, GMR Frapport, Star Group, Nortel, Siemens, Kotak Mahindra, Invista Inc., HIAL, Channel V, eBay, Raymonds, Areva Power, CII, to name a few.

Under her direction the company has striven to enhance the value add to its clients and pioneered new areas of development. Whether it is specific issues which have short term implications on the client business or those that impact the long term objectives of the client, at each front she has consistently and significantly demonstrated and won accolades for her advisory contribution.

As an individual, complete in all aspects, she has always aspired to value add to whatever work she has been involved with, and to the lives of people who come in touch with her.

[shiv]

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story ... ry%27.html

Union Communications Minister A. Raja has been caught on tape lobbying with a corporate PR agent for a place in the Manmohan Singh cabinet during the second term of the UPA.

Headlines Today is in exclusive possession of taped conversations between Raja and powerful corporate lobbyist Nira Radia just days before the swearing-in of the cabinet.

Here are excerpts from a conversation recorded on May 24, 2009 at 11.05 am.

Raja: My name is cleared?
Radia: Yeah, your case was cleared last night itself. No, what is happening with Daya?
Raja: Textiles or fertilisers?
Radia: Not for Daya though, Azhagiri or Daya only one can come in?
Raja: No, two can come...
Radia: Both?
Radia: Baalu, will be the problem, I hope.
Radia: It will be difficult for the leader to justify three family members.
Raja: (laughs) Yeah, but everybody knows...
Radia: No she said that, Kani told me last night, that is what her father told her yesterday, that for him to justify three family members would be very difficult; he recognises that problem...
Raja: Let us see what we can do...let us fight.

This was how Radia informed Raja that his name had been cleared for the telecom minister's post. The conversation had been recorded just four days before Raja's name was officially announced as the UPA's telecom minister.


So how does a corporate lobbyist get to know who is getting which portfolio? And why was Raja discussing portfolios with a corporate lobbyist?

Not just Raja, the tapes have Radia talking to DMK chief M. Karunanidhi's daughter Kanimozhi as well.

In these conversations, Kanimozhi - referred to as Kani - is heard telling Radia that the DMK must get the telecom portfolio. Here are excerpts from the conversation recorded on May 21, 2009 at 8:41 pm.

Kani: Hello
Radia: PM has already clarified that the deal has not been done. They are still in the middle of discussing it.
Kani: They've already promised to give us telecom...but it cannot become that they shift...
Radia: What?
Kani: They have already told us that they will give us telecom. Now it shouldn't be given to him because he's going around planting stories.
Radia: He's planting it on all the channels while you were on the plane.
Kani: Ya I know that.
Radia: But Kanni, the PM has just made a statement that I have no problems with Raja and Baalu and they are my esteemed colleagues.
Kani: He can make a statement. But whoever's going to come and talk to dad shouldn't talk otherwise.. See what people say outside and what actually they mean is different... And all of us know that in politics.

Not just telecom, Radia and Kanimozhi had a long conversation about who is getting what portfolio. What was surprising is that Radia seemed to know exactly what is happening and who was getting which portfolio.

[shiv]

http://www.mid-day.com/news/2010/nov/22 ... me-Tax.htm

CBI phone intercepts reveal ex-Jharkhand Chief Minister received Rs 180-crore payoff from Radia's client for extending mining lease

Corporate lobbyist Nira Radia's name has surfaced again, this time for allegedly facilitating mining deals between corporate houses and jailed former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda.

[ShivaS]

Wah wah AP gets shafted for giving gas to the nation
so YSR was accidented indeed
excessive reliance every where looks like it

now imagine how foreign intelligence fi
folks laughing while Eves droppings

[Muppalla]

Barkhagate - Radia Tapes & The Indian Media

[ShauryaT]

Sanku,

The shear number of players acting in concert to accomplish this is mind boggling. If what you have posted indeed happened.

The whole excercise is a logistical & organisational nightemare. That it was carried out sucessfuly deserves an applause for the magenerial skill of those who pulled it off.

JMT

Pratyush: This type of organization by industry to payoff the politicians happens all the time and has been going on ever since the Socialist Republic has been in place, both at the state and central levels.

Take my word on this. The Vaishya class has no issues organizing itself, when interests are at stake.

[RamaY]

After re-reading this thread, I don't see anything wrong with CRamS calling India a "Banana Republic". India is a 'dog eating dog society' with corruption at all levels including the general households, and business/media influencing govt formation outside democratic process.

good going!