A special court on Friday framed charges against former Telecom Minister A. Raja, DMK Rajya Sabha member Kanimozhi and Dayalu Ammal, wife of party president M. Karunanidhi, for allegedly laundering money in the 2G scam.
Special Judge O.P. Saini fixed November 11 as the date for recording of prosecution evidence.
According to the complaint filed by the Enforcement Directorate, Kalaignar TV, in which Ms. Dayalu Ammal and Ms. Kanimozhi had stake, received Rs. 200 crore as illegal gratification from connected companies of Swan Telecom.
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Swan Telecom was allotted Unified Access Services licences allegedly in an illegal manner in 13 service areas with the connivance of Mr. Raja and others.
The complaint said Kalaignar TV had received the alleged bribe on behalf of Mr. Raja. It had later returned the money through the same routes through which it had come with an interest amount of Rs. 31.36 crore to show that it was a genuine loan transaction, the complaint said. The Rs. 200-crore bribe had also been transferred to Kalaignar TV in the same manner after deducting interest amounts to show that it was loan transaction, the complaint added.
“The layering activities of moving varying amounts of funds through a chain of inter-connected companies or firms were nothing but projections made to disguise the proceeds of crime as refund of loan with interest,” Special Judge O.P. Saini said in his 223-page order.
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Earlier, the court formally framed charges against all the 19 accused — 10 individuals and nine companies. Mr. Saini said, “All charges are prima facie made out against each accused for laundering of Rs. 200 crore from (the) D.B. Group company to Kalaignar TV.”