BeyondHeadlines News desk
New delhi: Corporate lobbyist Nira Radia has told the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar may be controlling the controversial DB Realty, media reports said today. According to the reports, she also told the investigative agency that he may have spoken with former Telecom Minister A Raja about the allocation of spectrum and licence to Swan Telecom. Radia also said that she had no documentary proof to back up her allegation.
“That as per the general perception in Mumbai as well as outside, DB Realties directly or indirectly is controlled by Sharad Pawar and his family members. Shahid Balwa and Vinod Goenka are key persons in DB Realty. In that background, I had quoted the name of Sharad Pawar who might have pursued the matter with Raja, then telecom minister, for showing favour to Swan as well as to Anil Ambani’s Reliance Communications in issuing of UAS unified access service licence and dual technology,” Radia has been quoted as saying when asked how she knew about Pawar’s lobbying for Swan.
Pawar has denied any link with former DB managing director Shahid Balwa who is now in CBI custody.
Radia and industrialist Ratan Tata were on April 4 questioned by Parliament’s Public Accounts (PAC) Committee on her tapped conversations with politicians, corporates, bureaucrats and journalists in connection with alleged irregularities in the 2G spectrum allocation.
Swan Telecom is one of the companies that allegedly benefited from 2G allocation. It was part of Mumbai-based DB Realty, which has since then become Etisalat DB.
