In an obvious chain of patronage IL&FS, the company which gets the contract opts for Sanganer project Rajasthan from where Arvind Mayaram’s mother Indira Mayaram has been contesting Assembly elections and Mayaram and family has farmland there.
At a time when investigations into the “mother of all scams” the 2G spectrum allocation scam allegedly by former telecom minister A Raja and owners of some telecom firms are in full swing and the Apex Court is monitoring the investigations, it has come to light that the Rural Development Ministry has been awarding projects to a major infrastructure and finance company, IL&FS which had invested in the scam tainted DB Realty.
The chargesheet has been filed by the CBI against former telecom minister A Raja in the 2G spectrum scam with the leading real estate company Unitech and two others being a party to the criminal conspiracy, forgery, cheating and corruption.
THE CBI interrogation of DB Realty’s MD, Shahid Balwa, in connection with the 2G spectrum scam has thrown up the possibility of the real estate magnate having links with India’s most wanted man, Dawood Ibrahim. According to senior CBI officials, Dawood invested large sums of money in Balwa’s firm, which was used by him to finance many of his business deals.
The Enforcement Directorate has asked the intelligence officers in different Indian Missions to check the money trail in the 2G spectrum scam. Special Director, ED has sent out communiqués to Cyprus, Mauritius, British Virgin Islands, Jersey, Isle of Man, Singapore, Dubai, and Tripoli (Libya, Norway).
In the immediate aftermath of the bribes for loan scam involving LIC Housing Finance, the Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee in conjunction with Dept of Financial Services asked for a complete monitoring of all the companies mentioned in the CBI case filed. All public sector banks, financial institutions and state owned insurance companies have been asked to examine their exposure to the 21 companies named by CBI in the housing loan scam, and give a subsequent compliance report.
8 out of every ten home buyers in the Indian cities are sulking with the unfair trade practices of the real estate developers. Only 20 per cent of the buyers said they received a defect-free home and timely possession. The low customer satisfaction index was as much evident with developers offering affordable housing as with luxury housing.
The CBI investigation into the 2G spectrum scam is learnt to have zeroed on how lobbyist Nira Radia and former telecom minister A Raja circumvented all the norms to benefit the real estate company Unitech. The loss caused to the public exchequer and corresponding gain to the realty company is not confined to mere arbitrary granting of second-generation mobile telephony licenses.