Dayalu Ammal, wife of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi and additional director of Kalaignar TV Pvt Ltd, has told the Central Bureau of Investigation that she was not aware of the source of Rs 200 crore which came to the channel in which she has 60 per cent share.
CBI, in its second chargesheet, has named Ammal as one of the witnesses in the 2G spectrum case while other share holders Kanimozhi, daughter of Karunanidhi and Rajya Sabha member of Parliament along with channel's Managing Director Sharad Kumar, have been named as accused.
"On being asked about the source of Rs 200 crore which came to Kalaignar TV Pvt Ltd during December 2008 onwards, I state that I am not aware about the same as I am neither managing nor involving myself in the day-to-day affairs of the company," Dayalu Ammal said in her statement to CBI on March 11 this year.
CBI had earlier told a Delhi court that Rs 200 crore connected with the 2G spectrum scam had traveled from a partnership firm of Swan Telecom Promoter Shahid Usman Balwa, who has been chargesheet in the case, to Kalaignar TV Pvt Ltd.
Kanimozhi and Sharad Kumar holds 20 per cent share each in Kalaignar TV and CBI has named both in its second chargesheet in connection with the Rs 200 crore transaction.
Kanimozhi has been charged with entering into a criminal conspiracy with prime accused former Telecom minister A Raja who is under arrest. She has also been charged under the Prevention of Corruption Act for taking illegal gratification through Kalaignar TV run by ruling Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam in Tamil Nadu.
Besides Kanimozhi, four others -- Sharad Kumar, Karim Morani, director of Cineyug Media and Entertainment Pvt Ltd, Swan Telecom promoter Shahid Usman Balwa's cousin Asif Balwa and Rajeev Agarwal, who are directors of Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt Ltd -- were named in the second chargesheet.
The agency had said the money traveled through a circuitous route through Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt Ltd, a DB group company and Cineyug Films Pvt Ltd. In her statement to CBI, 78-year-old Dayalu Ammal, said she was not aware of any such funds and as to who arranged them.
While clarifying before CBI that she had no role in the day-to-day affairs of the company, Dayalu Ammal gave a certified copy of the board of resolution of Kalaignar TV Pvt Ltd dated July 27, 2007, in which she was appointed as a director.
She said she had raised reservations against her appointment as director of the company and then she was changed to additional director of the company with effect from July 27, 2007. "I expressed my reservations about the said appointment as I did not understand any language except Tamil," she said.
Dayalu Ammal told CBI that she can understand only Tamil and cannot read, write, speak or even understand any other language and the fact of the same was already intimated to the Registrar of Companies while executing the incorporation documents.
She told the agency that Rs 6 crore, which was her share of money invested in Kalaignar TV, was arranged out of the proceeds of Rs 100 crore which she got after selling her share in M/s Sun TV Pvt Ltd to Kalanidhi Maran in 2005-2006.
Dayalu Ammal said she had informed the board of directors in the meeting that because of her old age and deteriorating health, she cannot be expected to give any attention to the company's affairs and asked Sharad Kumar to do the work.
She said she cannot offer personal guarantee for the borrowing proposed to be made for workings of the company and "at best can pledge her shares if circumstances arise".
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