Raids on in full swing across country in BSNL-WiMax deal

New Delhi, Feb 25: Trouble seem to be looking out for already troubled Former Telecom Minister A Raja. The CBI on Saturday carried out raids in parts of Tamil Nadu in connection with the BSNL-WiMax deal. The CBI also registered a fresh case in this regard. It was reported on Friday that there were alleged irregularities in awarding BSNL's Wiimax franchise to a private firm, Starnet in spite of them not fulfilling basic guidelines.

There are allegations that the firm was awarded the franchise due to their proximity to A Raja. The raids were carried across 4 cities and in 9 places in Tamil Nadu. Earlier the CBI had converted its present ‘preliminary enquiry’ (PE) case into the granting of the franchise into a regular case.

The CBI is also questioning four senior officials of BSNL who were in-charge then and were responsible for the awarding of the contract to Starnet. Besides Tamil Nadu, raids are underway in Delhi, Kolkata and Gurgaon.

According to sources, Raja has not been named in the FIR as an accused.

Sources claimed that according to the guidelines that were laid down for the franchise to be granted, the company should have a turnover of Rs 100 crore and the same was allegedly achieved by manipulating the balance sheets by Starnet.

Besides the CBI, the Central Vigilance Commission had also found irregularities in the allotment of franchise to Starnet.

OneIndia News