New Delhi:
A bureaucrat who once worked closely with A Raja testified today in the telecom scam that has landed Mr Raja in jail. A Achary, a former Assistant Personal Secretary to Mr Raja, told the court that Mr Raja had a long and close association with two of the companies he allegedly conspired with.
Mr Achary said that as Environment Minister, Mr Raja cleared several big projects for real estate giants Unitech and DB Realty. In his infamous avatar as Telecom Minister, Mr Raja stands accused of gifting mobile network licenses and spectrum at throwaway prices to these companies' spin - Unitech Wireless and Swan Telecom. Mr Achary said that Mr Raja knew the promoters of both firms well - Sanjay Chandra of Unitech and Shahid Balwa and Vinod Goenka of Swan are on trial with Mr Raja for criminal conspiracy and were recently released from jail.
Mr Achary, testifying as seventh prosecution witness, stood by his earlier statements and said that he was attached with Raja from October 1999 to October 2008.
"The big construction projects cleared by Raja as Minister of Environment included Unitech, DB Realty and other companies. I do not know the procedure for making such clearances as I was not involved in these clearances. As far as Unitech is concerned, Sanjay Chandra and as far as DB Realty is concerned, Shahid Balwa and Vinod Goenka used to follow up. They used to meet Raja and Chandolia on regular basis to pursue their cases in Ministry of Environment and Forests...," Mr Achary said, adding, they also used to visit Raja's official residence during September-December 2007.
He also identified Mr Raja's signatures on two letters of November 2, 2007, addressed to the Prime Minister and said one of the letters was dictated and typed at the official residence of Mr Raja after 9 PM.
"This letter (second letter) was dictated and typed at the official residence of Raja after 9 PM and before 11.30 PM. It is not usual for me to remain present at official residence of Raja at these hours. I was called to his residence by Raja over phone," he said.
Discussing the drafting of the letter, the witness said "...When I reached the residence of Raja, he told me that a letter has come from the Prime Minister of India and he has to reply back then and there. He asked me to come and let us prepare the reply. I remained at the residence of Raja till about midnight. The reply was dispatched after its preparation at about 11.30 PM."
Mr Achary also said that Mr Raja and Kanimozhi were close associates who visited each other frequently. Like Mr Raja, Kanimozhi is from the DMK, and was arrested for the telecom scam. Her lawyers in court have tried to distance her from the former minister. The DMK is headed by her father, M Karunanidhi.
Mr Achary told the court that Mr Raja allocated spectrum "in the same way as ration cards are given in Tamil Nadu."
(
With PTI Inputs)