New Delhi: Former corporate lobbyist Niira Radia today told a special court that she had talked about Cabinet formation to former Telecom Minister A Raja and DMK MP Kanimozhi who are facing trial in the 2G spectrum case.
Radia, who was deposing as a prosecution witness in the case, also said she had attended meetings on behalf of Tatas with Raja at his residential office here during November 2008.
“It is correct that during these meetings, I saw some businessmen waiting for a meeting with A Raja and it was quite normal for A Raja to have such meetings,” she said.
She said the then Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata had in November 2007 given her a sealed cover for handing it over to DMK supremo M Karunanidhi but she was not aware of its contents.
“Since I had not read the contents of the sealed cover, I cannot say if it came in public domain or not. It is correct that a letter written by Ratan Tata came in public domain in which he praised the leadership of A Raja,” she said.
On being shown the transcripts of her recorded telephonic conversations by the CBI prosecutor, Radia said this has to be seen in its entirety.
“I was speaking about formation of cabinet with A Raja and also about my conversation with Kanimozhi Karunanidhi. However, this has to be seen in entirety of the context as this is only part of the conversation.
“In (transcripts)….the reference is same, that is about Cabinet formation,” Radia told Special CBI Judge O P Saini after she was shown transcripts of her recorded conversations.
Radia, whose recording of statement concluded today, said that she had also spoken to Raja’s then private secretary R K Chandolia, also an accused in the 2G case, and he had informed her about allotment of spectrum in four states.
“In (transcripts)..I am speaking to R K Chandolia wherein he was informing me about allotment of spectrum in four states, on which I asked him not to do that because Tatas wanted the spectrum to be released in all the states,” she said.
Radia, in her statement given to CBI during the probe into the case, had said she had talked to Kanimozhi after the 2009 general elections.
In her statement recorded by CBI on January 29, 2011, Radia had refuted the allegation that she had approached Kanimozhi to get Telecom Ministry for Raja in the cabinet.
During her cross examination today by advocate Sushil Bajaj, appearing for Unitech Ltd MD Sanjay Chandra who is also facing trial in the case, Radia told the court that during the period of October 2008, Unitech was going through a negative patch as lenders were seeking repayment of their loans.
She said “it is correct that market had not perceived the foray of Unitech into telecom sector positively. There was economic slowdown in 2008. The real estate business of Unitech was in trouble at that time.”
