Income Tax Department questions Kanimozhi

Chennai: DMK MP Kanhimozi, an accused in the 2G scam, was on Thursday questioned by the Income Tax dept in Chennai.

Kanimozhi and Kalaignar TV MD Sharad Kumar were summoned for clarification on the Rs 200 crore transfer to Kalaignar TV, said the I-T sources.

Though Kanimozhi and Sharad Kumar had the option to send an authorised person, they chose to appear in person before Deputy Director, Investigations, I-T.

The investigations to continue, said the I-T sources.

Kanimozhi and Kalaignar TV MD Sharad Kumar have been exempted from appearing in Patiala House court in Delhi on Thursday and on Friday after the duo filed a plea saying that they had been summoned at the Income Tax department in Chennai on Thursday.

The court, however, imposed some conditions on the duo saying "they shall not try to contact or influence any witness or tamper with evidence while in Chennai".

Kanimozhi's plea was made through former Additional Solicitor General Altaf Ahmed which was not opposed by Special Prosecutor UU Lalit.

Ahmed submitted that both Kanimozhi and Sharad Kumar had to appear in person before the Income Tax office at Nungambakkam in Chennai on may 12 at 11 am and 12.30 pm respectively for giving their evidence.

"They have received notice from the Income Tax department...directing them to attend income tax office in person. It is not possible for them to return from Chennai on the same day, they may be granted exemption from personal appearance for May 12 and 13," Ahmed said.

He assured the court that the duo would attend the proceedings on May 14 at 10 am when it would pronounce its order on their bail pleas.

The court on May 7 had dismissed their plea to go to Chennai to prepare for appearance before Enforcement Directorate, probing money laundering aspects of the 2G scam.

Kanimozhi and Sharad Kumar were seeking exemption from personal appearances on May 9 and 10 to go to Chennai to prepare responses to the queries of ED, which was dashed by the special court.

Kanimozhi is being booked for conspiracy and abusing her position has a public servant to take bribes. But her woes don't end here. The other venture of the would-be-poetess, promoting Tamil culture through an NGO of which she is the director, could also be her undoing. Tamil Maiyyam's audited balance sheets first aired by CNN-IBN could have been another conduit for 2G money.

The balance sheets show that the payments were made to Tamil Maiyyam, a Chennai based NGO. The payments by telecom majors came just five days before the award of the licence on January 10, 2008.

Among them, Unitech paid Rs 1 lakh on January 5, 2008. Tata Tele Services paid Rs 25 lakh also on January 5, 2008. MTS or Systema Shyam paid Rs 10 lakh on January 7, 2008; and Reliance Capital Limited paid Rs 25 lakh on the same date as MTS.

India Bulls paid Rs 50 lakh October 31, 2007. Its licence was, however, rejected by the DoT.

Kanimozhi has been in the media space for much longer then she would have liked and for all the wrong reasons. While the Congress would like to maintain that the CBI chargesheet would not affect Congress-DMK ties, Kanimozhi's run in with the law will certainly have a fallout at least in the politics within the DMK's first family.

Meanwhile, the CBI on Thursday interrogated Prashant Ruia of the Essar Group again, in connection to the 2G case.