CBI court likely to record statements of Kanimozhi, Raja today

The court had framed charges saying that Mr. Raja, allegedly in connivance with Ms. Kanimozhi and other co-accused, was involved in “parking” of illegal gratification of Rs. 200 crore in Kalaignar TV.

A. Raja and Kanimozhi.

A special CBI court here is likely to record on Monday the statements of DMK MP Kanimozhi, Dayalu Ammal, wife of DMK president M. Karunanidhi, and the former Telecom Minister, A. Raja, in a money laundering case linked to the 2G spectrum allocation scam.

The court of Special CBI Judge O.P. Saini is also likely to record the statements of 16 other accused, including Swan Telecom promoters Shahid Usman Balwa and Vinod Goenka.

Earlier this month, the court handed over a questionnaire, containing 400 questions, to the lawyers of the accused. It said that if the accused did not understand any of the questions, they were free to seek clarifications and that it would help to make the recording of statements easy since the case records were very technical and huge.

A charge sheet, filed by the Enforcement Directorate under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in April last, said Mr. Raja, in collusion with Ms. Kanimozhi, Ms. Dayalu Ammal and other accused, parked Rs. 200 crore in illegal gratification in Kalaignar TV.

In October 2014, the court framed charges against the accused. In November, the recording of the statements of the prosecution witnesses started, with the ED examining 25 witnesses.

This is the second case in the 2G scam, in which Ms. Kanimozhi, Ms. Dayalu Ammal and Mr. Raja are facing trial. In the first, they have been accused of conspiracy, forgery, cheating and criminal breach of trust under the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act.