Unitech 2G matter: Ratan Tata has invited money laundering charges upon him, says Swamy

New Delhi [India], Dec. 16 (ANI): Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy on Friday claimed that Ratan Tata by resorting to "illegal" means has invited money laundering charges upon him. "I think, his (Ratan Tata) original idea was to quit Tata Sons and become Chairman Managing Director, Unitech, but unfortunately my petition cancelled all the licences so he stayed on in Tata Sons for some time. Now, all these actions of Mr Tata invite money laundering charges," said the BJP leader. Talking about the manner in which Tata tried to secure the UASL (Unified Access Service License), which otherwise would have been rejected due to clauses 5 and 8, Swamy said he resorted to "benaami" transaction. "Tata has already a company for telecom on CDMA circuit. Now, he was not entitled to get the UASL spectrum licence, so what he did was he cheated. He persuaded the Unitech, a real-estate company, and gave them 1700 crores taken out from Tata funds, Tata and Sons, which was illegal... As directly, his application would not have been entertained because of clauses 5 and 8, so he did it by doing a benaami transaction," said Swamy. Stating that the Special Frauds Investigation Office (SFIO), a body of Ministry of Corporate Affairs, was of the opinion that Ratan Tata shouldn't be let off, Swamy said the body wrote a report after which action was taken by the Income tax department. "The Ministry of Corporate Affairs has a body called Special Frauds Investigation Office (SFIO). There some of the patriotic officers felt that when everybody else is being persecuted, why should he (Ratan Tata) be let off. So, they investigated and wrote a big report, which they submitted to the Director and the Minister of Corporate Affairs, but no action was taken. Income Tax, however, took action, saying that how do you give this money and they fined him 40 crores also," he said. "Tata, later, of course, wanted to do collective arbitration, but the fact is that IT found him guilty. Now I am saying that if Raja is guilty, so is Mr Tata. If all the others have been booked under 2G, he should also be booked under 2G," he added. Carrying the case further, Swamy said he has appealed that the matter should be investigated by the Enforcement Directorate. "I gave a complaint of about 75 pages and after hearing my brief arguments, the Sessions judge, special Judge Mr, Saini decided that he will take it on-record, post it for January 11. There, he will hear me because I am arguing that this matter should be further investigated by the ED. Under section 202 of the CRPC, the judge has the power to direct the ED to investigate it," said Swamy. (ANI)