Bharat Rakshak

Tanaji wrote:Have you noticed that she allowed herself to be interrogated by ED for 7 hours straight? IIRC she is based in UK and was in UK when the scam broke. ...

amit wrote:Tanaji is spot on. Too well connected on all sides to be prosecuted. From Raja to NaMo!

JwalaMukhi wrote:

Muppalla wrote: Why should we even blame the business and their associates? The easier logic is bribe-givers are all wrong hence the corporate is enemy. Corporate competetions and cutting each other to get a best deal are all fair. Without a bribe nothing moves and let us be practial. Now someone will jump and say we all have to fight this. Agreed but how? To me it is like a staircase and the system is at 10th step and if I try to get to the 1st step one directly I will fall down and become loser. We need to fight it out step by step.

From my perspective:
(1) Asking the entire population to not pay bribes and fight it out everyday is ridiculous and impractical.
(2) Asking the entire corporate to be fair and don't lobby or bribe is ridiculous and impractical.

Fight should be mainly (1) Political corruption and then if that comes to significant control then (2) Corruption in babus and employees corridor can be tackled.

Muppalla garu, agree with your perspective. The day to day corruption needs to be fought at a different level. The politicos are given the custody of large wealth of the nation. When custodians falter and sell the wealth for a song, because it yields them few silver coins then it becomes a humongous problem. The custodians turn hostile and start looting the public exchequer is when a nation turns to a banana republic. The custodians are generally a cabal and those in the corridors of power have to have lot higher standards than mango man. But it is a systematic issue, where the system is rigged to reward those who are corrupt. As long as system is set up to reward the dishonest and punish the honest, it will generally tend to be a banana republic.

The systematic correction needs to start at the top. Just saying the guy at the top is of impeccable integrity will not cut it. The cabal he/she is running is also crucial and has to live up to the standards. Instead, we see personally someone is not corrupt and hence is not responsible. The responsibility squarely lies with the leader of the pack be it getting the babus or the ministries to do what needs to be done. Hence, it is paramount that the cabal has ethics that is above board. Unfortunately, it is being run as comedy show, with no responsibility being taken at any stage. The responsibility cleverly is shifted to the common man when it becomes inconvenient.

Muppalla wrote:
The only guy who really acheived a lot (really a lot) in the entire history is though we hate is Late Shri V. P.Singh. Period. He is the first one and the last one who really tried to break the network. The later folks are all bhashans but not realistic.

This is where Rahul Mehta stands apart. Everyone else on this forum, including me, have some favorites.

Acharya wrote:

Muppalla wrote:
The only guy who really acheived a lot (really a lot) in the entire history is though we hate is Late Shri V. P.Singh. Period. He is the first one and the last one who really tried to break the network. The later folks are all bhashans but not realistic.

VP SIngh used the media and became the tool of the west when he had to take that help. This network is one over the other. You cannot break it until you become like PRC

amit wrote:
Acharya,

You have a point but do note that to become like PRC you have to form another cartel, one that is potentially far more dangerous than the one you would destroy. PRC is run by, probably, the most powerful and ruthless cartel the world has ever seen.

Caveat: When I make that comment about the PRC cartel I'm excluding all secret societies and brotherhoods that have existed from when time began.

At least nine companies that were awarded telecom licences and 2G spectrum are not-so-well-known property developers, some of whom never had anything to do with telecom before.

Each of these companies furnished bank guarantees worth R1,600 crore in a matter of 45 minutes on January 10, 2008. Some of these real estate companies that got 2G licences neither had the required paid-up capital, nor had they incorporated telecom-related business in their memorandum of association. “If they didn’t have adequate paid-up capital, how could they organise so much money at such short notice,” an official who did not wish to be identified rhetorically asked Hindustan Times.

Did this money come from the housing loan scam unearthed by the CBI on Wednesday, in which officials of public sector banks and home loan companies dished out loans to ineligible real estate firms after allegedly accepting bribes

In particular, investigators are examining the transactions of the DB group — a corporate group that investigators believe is promoted by a Maratha strongman — that holds a 45% stake in telecom company Etisalat DB.

DB Realty is among the major housing developers that seem to have received funds from housing finance companies, contravening existing norms.

Sources in the CBI said they are also looking into the possibility that investment firm Money Matters — three of whose executives, including chairman and managing director Rajesh Sharma, were arrested too along with the bankers — may have helped some companies raise money to get into the telecom sector.

Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd applied for a licence in March 2007 and was granted one in February 2008. It has changed its shareholding pattern at least four times since then.

Initially owned by Reliance Communications, it now belongs to a conglomerate whose largest holder, with 44.7% stake, is Etisalat, the UAE’s largest telecom company.

“DB Realty is a low-gearing company and its debt-equity ratio is 0.21,” a DB Group spokesperson told Hindustan Times in an emailed response. {Low gearing means that the group uses its own funds for operations as opposed to working capital loans}

“The company prefers private equity for project financing and takes minimum required construction loan. DB Realty does not have any direct or indirect shareholding in Etisalat DB Telecom Pvt Ltd or vice versa. DB Realty (has not given) any loan to Etisalat DB Telecom Pvt Ltd or vice versa.”

from rediff poster
LATEST INDIAN SCAMS WITH THEIR WORTH OR PRICE

india can be appropriately renamed as 'scamia'.

01. 2G spectrum worth 1.69 lakh crores
02. CWG games fiasco in thousands crores
03. Madhu Koda CM jharkhand scam worth 8000 crores
04. IPL ghotala worth lakhs of crores
05. National games continuous delay worth crores
06. Satyam fiasco worth crores
07. ULIP insurance scam
08. Bofors weapons sabottage
09. Dairy animal chaaraa ghotaala
10. Stamp papers scams
11. Urea Scam
12. Kargil and Coffin Scam
13. Emaar Scam
14. Prostition and Sex Racket Scam
15. Kashmir Sex Racket Scam
16. Babri and Ram Mandir Scam
17. Land Acquistion Scams on name of dubious industries
18. Profident Fund Scam -> Current judges
19. Animal Fodder Scam
20. Ketan Parek Scam
21. Bansali Scam
22. Shoes Scam by Rafique Tejani and Daya
23. Nagarjuna Finance Scam
24. Dalmia Scam
25. UTI Scam
26. Uday Goyal Scam
27. Sanjay Agrawal Scam
28. LIC insurance scam
29. Kargil and Coffin Scam
30. Urea Scam
31. Adarsh society,
32. Harshad Mehta Scam
33.SuflamSujlam scam
34.Nano land of sanad scam.
35.Extortion racket of Gujart.
36.Advani Hawala...
37.Bangaroo laxman collecting funds for bjp..
38.KabutarBaji scam by Babubhai katara.
39.sanjay Joshi... Cd kand..
40.swiss bank account scam
41. Global Trust bank scam
42. Charminar Bank scam
43. Vasavi Bank scam.
44. Reddy brother's bellary mining scam

Acharya wrote:BRF knows you liking for one particular party

amit wrote:
Since I'm a supporter of India, I support any policy decisions, directions that will ensure a high growth rate for the next 20-30 years.

Acharya wrote:

amit wrote:
Since I'm a supporter of India, I support any policy decisions, directions that will ensure a high growth rate for the next 20-30 years.

Calm down. Nothing to get excited. We have seen the same India for the last 40 years and it has a good future. Nobody can take it away.

ShivaS wrote:

from rediff poster
LATEST INDIAN SCAMS WITH THEIR WORTH OR PRICE

india can be appropriately renamed as 'scamia'.

01. 2G spectrum worth 1.69 lakh crores
02. CWG games fiasco in thousands crores
03. Madhu Koda CM jharkhand scam worth 8000 crores
04. IPL ghotala worth lakhs of crores
05. National games continuous delay worth crores
06. Satyam fiasco worth crores
07. ULIP insurance scam
08. Bofors weapons sabottage
09. Dairy animal chaaraa ghotaala
10. Stamp papers scams
11. Urea Scam
12. Kargil and Coffin Scam
13. Emaar Scam
14. Prostition and Sex Racket Scam
15. Kashmir Sex Racket Scam
16. Babri and Ram Mandir Scam
17. Land Acquistion Scams on name of dubious industries
18. Profident Fund Scam -> Current judges
19. Animal Fodder Scam
20. Ketan Parek Scam
21. Bansali Scam
22. Shoes Scam by Rafique Tejani and Daya
23. Nagarjuna Finance Scam
24. Dalmia Scam
25. UTI Scam
26. Uday Goyal Scam
27. Sanjay Agrawal Scam
28. LIC insurance scam
29. Kargil and Coffin Scam
30. Urea Scam
31. Adarsh society,
32. Harshad Mehta Scam
33.SuflamSujlam scam
34.Nano land of sanad scam.
35.Extortion racket of Gujart.
36.Advani Hawala...
37.Bangaroo laxman collecting funds for bjp..
38.KabutarBaji scam by Babubhai katara.
39.sanjay Joshi... Cd kand..
40.swiss bank account scam
41. Global Trust bank scam
42. Charminar Bank scam
43. Vasavi Bank scam.
44. Reddy brother's bellary mining scam

amit wrote:Muppalla,

That was nice story and made for good reading but I think you blew it by portraying VP Singh as the savior. Could you point to some things he did in his three years or so in power which points to that? I understand you may not be able to give direct linear correlations but indirect evidence would do. You gotta to remember there are folks in BRF who remember things from that long time back. You'd be doing a great service if you could jog their memories.

For example during a election campaign in UP, V P Singh whipped out from his pocket what was then a really cool gadget, a small electronic organiser, and said all the information about the Bofors scam was in that device and once he became PM he would expose everything in two weeks time. We all know how that went.

IMO VP's greatest contribution to India was the Mandalisation of society.

Mind you I don't necessarily disagree with you about power brokers and cartels but to suggest that INC is omnipresent and omnipotent in all that is quite a bit of stretch. You seem to have forgotten the many years INC was out of the power centers in the 1980s and 1990s. Even in the early part of this decade (including a bit of the last century) INC was not in power for six years. You want us to believe that even out of power the INC exercised more power - or that these cartels kowtowed to it - than the Party in power?

If that's the case it surely paints a sorry picture about the ability of the parties which were in power when the INC was in opposition. As does the fact that despite all the facts about Bofors - like who took what amount of money when and which bank account was used etc - being known to bloggers and other evangelists nobody could really bring the Gandhis to book when non-Congress parties and coalitions were in power. If we accept the fact that the Gandhis are the fulcrum on which this power broking and cartel rests on, the best way to destroy it would have been to expose the Gandhis, don't you think so? Surely the patriots who were in power during non INC years knew that?

The fact that it didn't happen doesn't necessarily imply the Gandhis are not corrupt and they didn't take money in Bofors. What it does imply is that what Rahul Mehta says has a kernel of truth, even though it gets BJP shills in a tizzy. Corruption is all pervasive and cuts across party lines and when the push comes to the shove all shades of political opinion will close rank. They will go so far (in terms of political point scoring) and not further. Too many skeletons in too many closets. Radia is just a sample of how wheeling dealing cuts across party lines.

My point is that this whole EQUAL EQUAL only helps to keep the cartel running for ever and a best tactic for the cartels and its supporters and innocent crusaders like Rahul Mehta believe in it.

ShivaS wrote:I gave Chit fund a clean chit as CBI/ED/DRI would eventually give the Gs

sanjeevpunj wrote:When the IT wallahs get corrupted and share well guarded IT secrets of how to unlock bank accounts and transfer money surreptiously .............there will come a day when suddenly many swiss banks will be empty?

Rahul Mehta wrote:Raghavendra,

No need to shout. We are all hearing you. Your allegation that I am Congress shill only shows that you want to silence everyone who exposes corruption of ALL. Looks like you want people talk about corruption of Sonia, MMS but insist that we must stay mum on corruption of ABV, NaMo, Pramod, Jetley, Shourie etc. That would make you a BJP shill.

ShivaS wrote:What has IT wallahs got to do with scams here?

Whats up doc?

shiv wrote:I don't know the meaning of "shill" and I have not checked dictionary.com. It may be OK to have a party interest in this scam, but unless interest in the scam goes beyond party interest, future scams cannot be stopped.

Any post in the Indian government gives some power over money that is misused. Other than Rahul Mehta I do not see any party or individual who is talking about how the financial system can be tweaked to prevent its easy misuse.

Muppalla wrote: My point is that this whole EQUAL EQUAL only helps to keep the cartel running for ever and a best tactic for the cartels and its supporters

Muppalla wrote:

shiv wrote:
Any post in the Indian government gives some power over money that is misused. Other than Rahul Mehta I do not see any party or individual who is talking about how the financial system can be tweaked to prevent its easy misuse.

Who will allow that to happen when everyone is enjoying the spill. Will the government or the person trying to change survive? Again there needs a leadership who can take it up at the higher level. There are instances where someone tired and lost the cause.

ALLAHABAD: Congress president and party-led UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Thursday announced a zero-tolerance policy of her party and said that while the 125-old party had been quick to take action against the guilty on all occasions, many governments led by other parties thrived on the menace.

However, she did not name any party.

But a reference to Uttar Pradesh and ‘governments led by other parties’ pointed to Chief Minister Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party rule in the state, and could be meant to refer to Karnataka as well, which is under the BJP.

About action taken against corruption, she indirectly referred to the sacking of former Telecom Minister A Raja, Commonwealth Games chief Suresh Kalmadi and change of party government leadership in Maharashtra in the wake of Adarsh Society scam.

Urging all the Opposition parties to follow course, Sonia said: “I would like to appeal to all other political parties to adopt the same sternness in dealing with corruption as the Congressled UPA Government has been doing.”

Thursday is also the centenary of the Indian National Congress. This is Sonia’s first major appearance in UP after the general election results, which saw the Congress making significant gains in the state.

It's official, Suresh Kalmadi let-off
25 Nov 2010, 1700 hrs IST
This is the most damning proof so far of the massive cover up to shield Commonwealth Games Organising Committee’s Chairman Suresh Kalmadi. The Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) FIR in the AM Films scam case shockingly does not name the man responsible for the entire mess- Kalmadi himself. This shocking let off is despite how TIMES NOW has relentlessly been proving Kalmadi’s involvement in the scam. The e-mail has Kalmadi’s signatures on the papers okaying 25000 pounds to AM Films and Cars. In fact, the note by Sanjay Mohindroo who is now arrested says that Kalmadi had ordered to release payments immediately.

But the most recent is this proof, his key aide TS Darbari, now in custody of the CBI also nailing his former boss. A letter written by Darbari to the CBI Director stating in no unclear terms that Kalmadi was in the know how of all details regarding the AM Films contract and in fact he was the main fraudster. TIMES NOW had first exposed the scam on the 31st of July soon after Kalmadi denied the allegations and even went to the extent of threatening to sue TIMES NOW . But your channel continuously exposed Kalmadi's role in the scam till finally his aides were arrested.

She grew with the BJP, made inroads into the Congress inner circle, and vibed well with the CPM. But she alienated her own staff with her workaholism, constantly egging them on with the Nike tagline, “Just do it”. Her personal wealth is whispered to be around Rs. 500 crore but that is difficult to establish.

Interestingly, in what started out as a telephone tap by the IT Department’s Directorate General of Investigations to probe violations related to TDS (tax deducted at source) has turned into a fullscale, multi-agency inquiry by the government about whether Radia is so embedded in Delhi’s politics that she can make/unmake ministers or manipulate government policy to suit powerful corporate clients.

What the ED is trying to establish is the money trails that seem to wind through her corporate communications venture. Knowing this, she avoided, on medical grounds, the first set of notices sent to her, using the time to get politicians in Uttar Pradesh to silence the bureaucrats from that state’s cadre who are investigating the scam. But no one wants to get embroiled in the Rs. 1.76 lakh crore telecom scam.

The CBI is also probing what it calls her nexus with a slew of former bureaucrats whose brains she picked to bend rules to the benefit of her clients. These included conglomerates like the Tatas, Reliance, ITC and Mahindras, and big-bucks entities like Lavasa, Star TV, Unitech, Elder Health Care, Haldia Petrochemicals, Emami and the HIV/AIDS initiative of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

This week, one of her confidants, Pradip Baijal, the former telecom and disinvestment secretary who started the country’s much-hyped disinvestment process, was questioned by the CBI for over four hours for his alleged investments in African nations like Guinea and Senegal.

“The charges are serious,” admits ED’s Rajeshwar Singh, refusing to reveal details. CBI and ED officials told TEHELKA that there is enough evidence to prove Radia’s links with retired bureaucrats like Ajay Dua, former secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), CM Vasudev, former finance secretary, SK Narula, former Airports Authority of India chairman, and Akbar Jung, the former civil aviation secretary.

Worse, some of the conversations link Radia to Anil Agarwal of the London-based Vedanta group that has drawn flak for violating environmental norms at its billion-dollar mining projects in Orissa’s Lanjigarh district.

Tellingly, the tapes also establish her links with Sunil Arora, an IAS officer based in Rajasthan and used by Radia to gain access to his batchmates in various ministries. The conversations are a part of the CBI notes to the Supreme Court.

Arora, who sacrificed his second tenure as chairman and managing director (CMD) of Indian Airlines by attempting to blow the whistle on Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel, seems to have opened many doors for Radia across India. During his tenure as the CMD of Indian Airlines (2003-05), seven aircraft leases were found to have been channelled to companies that had Radia’s front companies acting as agents. “We have evidence that substantial payments were made to Arora’s Meerut-based brother by Radia’s company,” said Akshat Jain, a senior IT official.

For the record, Niira was born to Sudesh and Iqbal Memon, a trader who was born a Hindu, on 19 November 1960. Niira — the extra ‘i’ was added on the advice of numerologists — and her family had to flee Africa around the time of the fall of Idi Amin. Once touted as an emerging competitor to infamous gun dealer Adnan Khashoggi, Memon changed track in London and opened an aviation lease broking business.

The natural heir to the family business, Radia also worked with Scotland Yard on a job-to-job basis providing escort cover to its young recruits. In London, she married Janak Radia of a wealthy trading family. At some point, she was also marestried to the grandson of Rao Birendra Singh, Haryana’s chief minister in the 1960s, and went by the name of Niira Yadav.

In 1996, Radia fled to India from UK after a host of shell companies with paid-up capital as low as £100 went bust and came under scrutiny for money laundering.

There are many who claim Radia still nurses a grudge against Jet Airways head Naresh Goyal and Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel for bringing her flights of fancy to naught. While Radia never got security clearance as the promoter for Crown Air, she came in close contact with the then aviation minister Ananth Kumar of the BJP.

Sources in the BJP leadership point out that Radia decided that Crown Air had reached a dead end when she got clear signals from the PMO that Kumar was under a cloud. Nevertheless, Radia managed to get a large tract of land at unbelievably low prices during the NDA regime in the name of Sudesh Foundation, a charity in her late mother’s memory.

It is believed that the late BJP leader Pramod Mahajan played a crucial role in helping the Tata-led management invest Rs. 1,200 crore of VSNL’s reserves in the ailing Tata Teleservices. Radia, after three-four long meetings with Mahajan, not only managed to build bridges between him (then telecom minister) and the Tata group, but also ensured that the VSNL board proposal — earlier termed as asset stripping by Mahajan — got cleared with minor modifications.

Radia’s biggest break came when she got acquainted with Ratan Tata’s close aide RK Krishna Kumar, the man trusted by Tata to translate his airline dreams into reality

FORMER DELHI Commissioner of Police KK Paul was a close friend of Radia’s, and got his post under the NDA four months before the Congress-led UPA came to power. When a former Maharashtra DGP was made to quit the post of Mumbai Police Commissioner overnight in February 2007, there was a strong buzz that Radia was lobbying hard to get him a plush posting at the CBI or an intelligence agency in Delhi. Intelligence sources do not rule out Radia’s hand in the controversy surrounding former Mumbai police commissioner Hassan Gafoor, who was the top choice to become Maharashtra DGP before a damaging interview appeared in a leading weekly magazine. The beneficiary of the Gafoor controversy was none other than Anami Narayan Roy, a close relative of Tata Motors chief Ravi Kant.

It was around this time that Radia fought a bitter, hostile battle with Dayanidhi Maran, who was upset with Ratan Tata’s reported patronage of maverick businessman C Sivasankaran. The enterprising Radia located a confidant of DMK chief M Karunanidhi’s wife Rajathi Ammal, and developed a rapport with her in the course of a number of visits to Chennai. Her biggest break came when a rift developed between the Marans and the Karunanidhi family, which resulted in the suave and progressive Dayanidhi Maran’s unceremonious exit from the telecom ministry. It is believed that Radia once flew to Chennai and organised a closed-door meeting between the DMK supremo, his son MK Stalin and Tata.

Radia is believed to have engineered a privilege motion against Praful Patel in Parliament’s monsoon session of 2005. An unheard of periodical, UT Independent, saw a sudden increase in circulation after dubbing the suave Patel India’s bidi king.

The biggest missing link in Radia’s operation was a full-fledged “think tank” that would take her to the big league of reasoned lobbying. Former AAI CMD Narula, who was parked in Radia’s Magic Air hangar, came handy in building inroads to top-level bureaucrats, who in their mid- 50s start looking for post-retirement opportunities with corporate India.

Despite Radia’s magic not working on former AAI executive director Gurcharan Bhatura, Narula is believed to have been the key man in getting two high-profile bureaucrats in Radia’s corner.

Poles apart, the controversial Baijal and the low-profile Vasudev, the former DIPP (Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion) secretary, were good cornerstones of Radia’s dreams of managing the bureaucracy. Rewarding Narula for having stuck around — he was also the non-executive chairmanship of Magic Air — Radia floated Neosys with Baijal, Vasudev and Narula as partners. In no time, a couple of Chinese companies including telecom major Huawei were being advised by Radia’s company.

LESS THAN three years after it was incorporated, Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd made a windfall gain, selling a 45 per cent stake to Dubai-based Emirates Telecommunications Corporation PJSC, which operates under the Etisalat brand, for over Rs. 4,000 crore.

In the intervening three years, former telecommunications minister A Raja and corporate lobbyist Niira Radia joined hands to bend rules, defy recommendations of the regulator and the Ministry of Finance to allot licences in 15 telecom circles to Swan Telecom, Unitech Wireless, Datacom and Aircel, according to a top-secret document in TEHELKA’s possession prepared by the Income Tax Department, based on telephone intercepts.

“The conversation seems to suggest that the Minister Shri Raja and Mrs Radia too have equity interests in Swan and her associates as to be put on the board,” the documents said without elaborating.

shiv wrote:Electronic money and plastic money with tracking could help but this is where "India is a poor country" - the "masses cannot use plastic cards" comes in handy. Dealings in cash and kind are commonplace. If a man visits whorehouses and gets genital warts he will not stop the visits - he will only get the warts treated. Same way when ISI benefits from the cash-based financial system a few people are arrested but the system must go on. Need to keep on visiting the whorehouse.

Among the most naive people in India are the "IT wallahs" because they are all paid what they think are "high salaries". The money is paid directly to banks and tax is deducted. Every paisa is accounted for. They drive fancy cars and are removed from the system where the real money exists. Cash. In currency notes, land, and businesses.

It is believed that the late BJP leader Pramod Mahajan played a crucial role in helping the Tata-led management invest Rs. 1,200 crore of VSNL’s reserves in the ailing Tata Teleservices. Radia, after three-four long meetings with Mahajan, not only managed to build bridges between him (then telecom minister) and the Tata group, but also ensured that the VSNL board proposal — earlier termed as asset stripping by Mahajan — got cleared with minor modifications.

Rahul Mehta wrote: And more question to all Shourie Worshipers. Care to explain why the Knight in Shining Armor, never compromising, always crusading against corruption, Shri Shouriejee never spoke against corruption of Pramod? Was it because Pramod was giving him cut in cash or kind?

SwamyG wrote:Progress breeds progress. Success breeds success. Corruption will reduce when the present crop of leaders and people go away. Most of us will not be around when it does happen. 2 generations from 1991 is my calculation - 60 years or so. Meanwhile the country ought to keep plowing ahead.