The court fixed November 11 as the next date of hearing
The accused pleaded not guilty and claimed that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had falsely implicated them in the case. (Photo: PTI/File)
New Delhi: A special court here on Friday framed charges against former communications minister A Raja, DMK MP Kanimozhi, DMK supremo Karunanidhi’s wife Dayalu Ammal and 16 others, including nine companies, in connection with a money laundering case related to the 2G spectrum scam.
The accused pleaded not guilty and claimed that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had falsely implicated them in the case. The court has now fixed November 11 as the next date of hearing.
The court said that there was enough material on the record, which made out a prima facie case against all the accused. The ED had on April 25 chargesheeted them for committing an offence punishable under the relevant sections of the PMLA act.
The ED had claimed in its chargesheet that the accused were involved in a Rs 200-crore money transaction, which was not bonafide or genuine and that it was a bribe to Mr Raja for the alleged grant of telecom licences to DB Group companies.Besides Mr Raja, Ms Kanimozhi and Ms Dayalu Ammal, the individual co-accused in the case are Shahid Balwa, Vinod Goenka, Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt Ltd directors Asif Balwa and Rajiv Agarwal, Kalaignar TV MD Sharad Kumar and its director P. Amirtham and Bollywood producer Karim Morani. All of them are out on bail.
The court, in its 208-page order, said, "A. Raja, in connivance with M.K. Dayalu, K. Kanimozhi and Sharad Kumar, was actually involved in parking the illegal gratification of Rs 200 crore received from Shahid U. Balwa and Vinod K Goenka in KTV (sic)."
"He (Mr Raja) was also actually involved in the process of refund of the proceeds of crime of Rs 223.55 crore in order to wriggle out of the charges of crime. Thus, Raja has committed the offence of money-laundering as defined under Section 3 of the act (sic)," the court said.
The court also framed charges against nine accused firms, Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd, Kusegaon Realty Pvt Ltd (formerly known as Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt Ltd), Cineyug Media and Entertainment Pvt Ltd (formerly known as Cineyug Films Pvt Ltd), Kalaignar TV Pvt Ltd, Dynamix Realty, Eversmile Construction Company Pvt Ltd, Conwood Constructions and Developers (P) Ltd, DB Realty Ltd and Nihar Constructions Pvt Ltd.
( Source : dc correspondent )
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