2G scam: A noble profession defamed

24 December, 2010

The CBI inquired about Radia's relationship with real estate company Unitech and other 2G spectrum beneficiaries, the CBI sources said. She was also quizzed on the role she played in influencing the spectrum allotment.

CENTRAL BUREAU of Investigation (CBI) team this week questioned PR consultant Nira Radia at her house here in connection with the 2G spectrum scam, CBI sources said. A team of sleuths, accompanied by women officers grilled Nira Radia till late afternoon and on the basis of Radia’s recorded conversations. The CBI inquired about her relationship with real estate company Unitech and other 2G spectrum beneficiaries, the sources said. She was also quizzed on the role she played in influencing the spectrum allotment.

Nira Radia , who entered India only in 1995 , floated Crown Air as MD in 2000, but miserably failed in spite of securing FIPB clearance to invest Rs 100 crores. Nira Radia, who never had any exposure of running a PR Consultancy set up Vaishnavi Corporate Communications in 2001, and intriguingly bagged all 90 Tata Group Companies which is unprecedented in the history of Tatas because each of these companies were independently run as profit centres. It is only at the behest of Ratan Tata that Vaishnavi Communications was trusted upon all Tata Companies.

What was there for RNT to put all eggs in one basket is something which has raised many eye brows while Nira lands in 2G scam in 2010, which is only the tip of the ice berg.

The 2G scam tapes are a superb lesson in dialectology, loosely the study of speech styles. PR lady Nira Radia’s accent varies in practically each conversation with politicians, business leaders, bureaucrats and top TV and print editors. She is matter – of – fact in some, husky in others: She is abusive in Hindi while speaking about some journalists to her staffers, she is assured while explaining extremely technical matters to business honchos, retired bureaucrats and editors; and has a schoolgirl like British accent while conversing with Ratan Tata. “I hope the bad times are behind us,” she told the Tata Group chief at the end of a conversation.

Well, the bad times don’t seem to be ending for Nira Radia. As the Enforcement Directorate launches an investigation into the 5,800 reported taped conversations from Radia’s phone over a six-month period in 2009, all transactions with tax implications will be looked into. Home Secretary G K Pillai in an interview told Outlook that it was his predecessor Madhukar Gupta who had sanctioned the phone – tapping on the request of the Central Board of Direct Taxes, which was investigating suspicious fund transfers. These will be investigated now.