Is Maran one of the beneficiaries in 2G scam?
By siliconindia   |   Friday, 03 June 2011, 01:13 IST
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Is Maran one of the beneficiaries in 2G scam?
Bangalore: Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran has been accused as one of the alleged beneficiaries in the 2G scam. A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court alleging that Dayanidhi Maran is also one of the beneficiaries of the 2G scam. Dayanidhi Maran got the BSNL to connect 323 telephone lines to his home, in the name of the Chief General Manager BSNL Chennai. He got the BSNL to lay separate and exclusive underground cable from his Boat Club home to the SUN TV office and fraudulently linked the 323 home lines to his brother Kalanidhi's SUN TV network. The petition against Dayanidhi Maran was filed by an NGO, the Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL). It is suspected that Maran delayed award of licences to a Chennai-based company called Aircel. As far as 14 applications were pending for licences of Aircel, Maran allegedly raised irrelevant questions and postponed the award of licences. As a result, Sivasankaran the owner of Aircel group requested Maran to resolve the issues, but the request was left unanswered. Apparently Sivasankaran was compelled to sell Aircel to T Ananda, a Malaysian business tycoon who owned Maxis group. Surprisingly, within three months Maran's family owned business (Sun TV) received substantial amount of money from the Maxis Group (Aircel) by taking 20 percent equity in Sun Direct. This sudden increase in Maran's finance was approved by the FIPB (Foreign Investment Promotion Board) on March 2 and 19, 2007. The petition alleged that the Maxis Group invested a total of 599 crore in Sun direct in 2007 and 2009. The allegations triggered demands by the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, AIDMK for Maran's resignation from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's cabinet. "As the news items are far from truth, I have already sent defamation notices to the newspapers and television channels concerned," Maran said on allegations that Sun TV Network was a beneficiary of pay-offs by a Malaysian company. The BJP also alleged that the Sun TV Network was an indirect beneficiary of the decisions taken by him during his tenure as the telecom minister. "It is totally untrue and malicious," Maran said in a letter issued and denied that he was "partial to a particular company" in granting a licence.

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