India Corruption Cases(2G,CWG) – Scamsters get caught,charged (Kanimozhi,Kalmadi) but will the Big Fish be netted

India has lately become a nation known for endemic corruption rather than the world’s poster growth boy with the ruling party members implicated in a number of corruption scams.With the government reluctant to take action against its own,the Supreme Court was forced to take over the supervision of the investigating agency CBI.In the first chargesheet top corporate honchos and CEOs were put under arrest alongwith the former telecom minister Raja and his cronies.With the ruling party under pressure from a civil society movement against corruption,the ability to manipulate the investigation process is limited.Not that the government is not trying put impediments in the court cases and top ministers and leaders indulging in character assassination of the eminent social activists like Santosh Hedge and others.This comes even as other chief ministers of the Congress like Gehlot get caught in nepotism.

Kalmadi who is a Congress member of parliament and the chairman of the powerful Olympic Association in India has been arrested in the CWG scam.Note the Commonwealth Games has been known to be one of the most corrupt ones organized in India.Some of the organizing members and Kalmadi friends have already been arrested and released.It is almost 6 months after the Games conclusion that Kalmadi has been arrested even as numerous cases of manipulation and siphoning of money have been reported.Not a surprise given that government routinely manipulate the investigation process and agencies like CBI to its own ends.

Kalmadi arrested; charged with forging, conspiracy

Suresh Kalmadi has been arrested – a formal announcement is likely this afternoon – for allowing and in some cases inducing corruption in the Commonwealth Games that were held in India in October last year.  Mr Kalmadi has been charged with conspiracy and cheating; he also faces charges under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Mr Kalmadi was interrogated this morning by the CBI for the fourth time about a slate of contracts that saw the most expensive firms being hired for equipment and services. These include conspiring with a Swiss firm that supplied the Timing-Scoring-Results System (TSR) for the Games at exorbitant rates.
Mr Kalmadi served as the Chairman of the Organising Committee that has been drenched in corruption charges.  Team Kalmadi was allegedly in the habit of handing out contracts to firms that provided equipment or services at exorbitant rates; reasonable bids from other firms were allegedly ignored.Several of Mr Kalmadi’s closest aides have already been arrested- including Lalit Bhanot,  who served as the Secretary General of the Organizing Committee and V K Verma who was its Director General.

Kanimozhi who is the daughter of one of the most powerful politicians Karunanidhi a leader of the regional party DMK has been named as an accused in the multi billion dollar 2G scandal.Note Karunanidhi has a number of sons,nephews and assorted relatives involved in politics in top positions as is the case with most of the leading politicians in India.Note almost every party suffers from the son-daughter syndrome where a politician’s children “inherit” top positions in India’s ruling establishment with or without merit.Raja the former minister is regarded merely as a appointee of the Karunanidhi clan with the real power and money resting with the clan.Dayalu Ammal one of the wives owns the majority stake in the Kalainagar TV Channel which received the kickbacks from DB Realty through dummy firms.Kanimozhi also owns 20% stake in the channel .Note big politicians own billion dollar businesses either openly or through secret surrogates.For example DB Realty the huge realty company which has been one of the beneficiaries has been said to be controlled by Sharad Pawar by Nira Radia.Note the arrest of Kanimozhi will be a real test whether the Supreme Court can catch the big fish involved in the scam or just the peripheral stooges.

Kanimozhi charged with conspiracy in 2G scam by CBI

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday named five more people, including Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanimozhi, co-accused in the case involving the award of second generation (2G) phone spectrum.
The supplementary chargesheet, the second thus far, filed by the premier probe agency in a special court here also names as co-accused Sharad Kumar of Kalaignar TV, Karim Morani of Cineyug Films, Asif Balwa and Rajiv B Agarwal of Kusegaon Realty. “I don’t want to comment now,” Kanimozhi told IANS in Chennai.
Dayalu Ammal, wife of Karunanidhi and stepmother of Rajya Sabha member Kanimozhi, does not figure in the charges filed Monday as speculated by a section of the media.