Chennai:
A TV channel in Chennai, co-owned by the wife and daughter of M Karunanidhi, allegedly received 52 crores from a series of firms in Kolkata which are "fictitious" according to tax officials.
Kalaignar TV played a key link in the 2G or telecom scam, according to the CBI, which says the channel became the resting place for a 200-crore kickback in 2008 from Swan Telecom to then telecom minister A Raja. As a result, Kanimozhi, who owns 80% of the channel along with her step-mother Dayaluammal, was jailed for seven months and is being tried for charges that include criminal conspiracy and cheating. Like Mr Raja, Kanimozhi is a leader of the DMK party, headed by Mr Karunanidhi.
Her lawyers have argued in court that she was not involved in the channel's financial transactions. They also said that the 200 crores from Swan was a loan that was returned with interest. But today, senior members of the Central Board of Direct Taxes said that 52 crores of the money that was returned came from companies whose details are unclear, and who were not allotted shares in return for their money. The CBI has said in court that the 200 crores were re-paid after it became clear that Mr Raja's role in the telecom swindle was being investigated.
"Details of those companies are not available to the CBDT (Central Board of Taxes). Their balance sheets are not available to Income Tax. That's a major lacunae in the returns submitted to the IT dept," the head of the parliamentary committee, P C Chacko, told reporters. He said CBDT and Income Tax department doubt that these companies are "fictitious".
During the three-hour-long meeting of the committee where Revenue Secretary R S Gujral also appeared, its members slammed the CBDT and the IT department over its "snail's pace" of probe when they said that out of nine companies being investigated for different roles in the alleged scam, assessment had been completed of only two companies - Reliance Telecom and Tata Realty and Infra Ltd.
The panel was assured that the probe will be completed by March, 2013.