Mr. Maran, now Union Minister for Textiles, has threatened to sue Tehelka over this expose.
But Tehelka has not received any Legal Notice Yet.
Pursuant to Supreme Court’s order dated 8 December 2010 instructing the
CBI to widen its ongoing 2G probe beyond Raja and include all the licenses and spectrum allotments done since 2001, the CBI had registered a Preliminary Inquiry against unknown persons to look into possible criminal aspects in the telecom policy since 2001.
While doing the investigation Tehelka Team found out that
Much bigger than the A Raja-Kalaignar TV kickback is the Rs 700 Crore that the Maran brothers got from Maxis.
In November 2006, then Telecom Minister Maran granted 14 (UASL) for Aircel.
UASL (Unified Access Service Licenses)
The license, along with the startup 2G spectrum, was awarded at the same price at which later Raja gave away 2G licenses to Swan, Unitech and a host of other players in 2008
In 2001 Aircel paid Rs 1,399 Crore for 14 telecom circles, the price was arrived at through an auction process.
If the CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General) valuation of 2G licenses is taken as a yardstick, the value of Aircel licenses cleared by Maran would amount to approximately Rs 22,000 Crore. But Aircel paid just Rs 1,399 Crore.
As per the CAG’s valuation of 2G licenses, these 14 licenses could have fetched the government over Rs 22,000 Crore, if they had been auctioned in a competitive bid.
The telecom licenses to Aircel were awarded after about two years of ‘unwarranted’ delay on the part of the DoT headed by Maran at the time.
On 26 May 2004, Maran took over as telecom minister
May 2004 –
Aircel’s applications for new circles were pending since Maran’s takeover as
minister for communications and IT.
Owner of the company - the company was owned by C Sivasankaran, the chairman of Siva Group (earlier known as Sterling InfoTech Group).
On 1 June 2005, while Maran was in the saddle, Sivasankaran wrote him a letter alleging that his applications for new licenses were being sabotaged by “some powerful element in the ministry”.
Though he refrained from putting the blame on Maran, he wrote: “The Sterling Group are intrigued by the attitude of the DoT and we, who have been dealing with the DoT for a whole decade and more, have never had this kind of frozen feeling.
Unable to fathom why there is a complete lack of response from the DoT we brought the issues to your notice…. Yet there has been no progress in our matter, nor is there any difference seen in the attitude of the DoT.”
The letter further read: “In this situation we cannot help to conclude that some powerful element in the Ministry/Government seems bent on stifling matters relating to the Sterling InfoTech Group.”
While Maran was minister, DoT not only delayed the issuance of new licenses to Aircel, it also delayed the allotment of spectrum for the licenses that had already been issued before Maran became the minister. Justice Patil’s report has called this delay as unjustified.
SOMETHING AS small as the request for name change made by Sivasankaran
was also not cleared by Maran.
On 4 April 2005 Sivasankaran wrote to Maran:
“Consequent to change in the name of the company from Dishnet DSL Ltd to
Dishnet Wireless Ltd, we have made a request for effecting the change of the
name of the company in UAS licence.
This is pending for the last eight months.
Such a request is normally cleared at the lowest levels in the administration and
instantly.”
In the same letter, Sivasankaran further wrote: “I am bringing these unusual
occurrences to the Hon’ble Minister’s notice only to show how there appears to
be some unspoken convergence in the delays and denials.”
In October 2005, he received an ‘unsolicited offer’ from Malaysia-based Maxis Communications to acquire Aircel. Since the cap on FDI in telecom sector was 74 percent, the remaining 26 percent was picked up by Reddys of Apollo Hospital. On 30 December 2005, Maxis and Aircel signed the agreement
Siva Group formed another telecom company named S-Tel, which was granted licences for six circles by A Raja in 2008. S-Tel is now being investigated by the CBI for
suspected illegal gains
on 28 February 2006, Maran wrote a letter to Manmohan Singh and asked
spectrum pricing to be kept out of GoM’s purview.
same like Raja.
March 2006 –
Malaysian business tycoon T Ananda Krishnan bought 74 percent stake in Aircel.
T Ananda Krishnan is the son of SriLankan Tamils.
Krishnan paid Rs 3,390.82 Crore for 74 percent equity in Aircel.
After six months Ananda Krishnan’s takeover of Aircel, the ministry granted Aircel the much-vaunted licenses in 14 cash-rich circles.
This took Aircel from a small regional player to a pan-India operator.
Today, Aircel is the seven biggest telecom operator in the country with its net worth valued in the range of $7.5-$8 billion.
February 2007 –
The annual report of Sun Direct TV for the year 2007- 08 showed their aggregate revenue as Rs 61.16 Crore while its losses amounted to Rs 73.27 Crore.
four months after the licences were granted to Aircel, Ananda Krishnan through one of his group companies, South Asia Entertainment Holding Ltd (SAEHL) invested $150 million (roughly Rs 600 Crore) in a phased manner in Sun Direct TV Pvt Ltd by acquiring 20 percent equity in the company owned and run by Dayanidhi’s brother Kalanidhi and his wife Kaveri Maran.
The equity investment was cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs.
Almost simultaneously, the Maran family was allotted about 12.6 Crore additional equity shares in Sun Direct TV to maintain their total equity at 80 percent.
But unlike the staggering rate at which the Maxis Group picked up the Sun Direct shares, the allotment to the Marans was made at par value of Rs 10 per share without charging any premium.
Between February 2008 and July 2009, the Maxis Group invested Rs 100 Crore more in another Maran family-owned company named South Asia FM Ltd which owns Sun FM radio network.
Maxis Group subsidiary South Asia Multimedia Technologies Limited (SAMT) invested Rs 50 Crore in equity of South Asia FM Ltd and Rs.43.9 Crore in preference shares of SAFL.
Maxis- Sun TV and Maxis-Sun FM deals qualify as quid pro quo on similar lines as
the Rs 200 Crore Balwa-Kalaignar deal?
The CBI has charged Raja for fraudulent implementation of the first-come-first serve policy of granting licences.
The question that arises is whether Maran was also guilty of a fraudulent implementation of first-come-first-serve policy in his alleged bid to favor Aircel, post Maxis buy-out?
This is the same case A. Raja and his 2G scam, in this also it is same give and take.
You give me license and I will see that your loss making unit survives and becomes profit making.
I will buy shares of your loss making company by paying premium price for each share but I will keep you owner of your loss making company.
Corruption is our religion Let us make corruption a fundamental right of every Indian.
Reality views by sm –
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Keyword Tag - Maran 700 Crore Scam 2G scam Maxis Aircel Reddy Apollo Hospital
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