Raja rejects ED charge against Stalin

Chennai, Jun 3: Former Union Minister and prime accused in the

case A

today termed as 'cooked up story' the charge sheet filed by Enforcement Directorate referring to the alleged role of DMK Treasurer M K

in the scam.

Speaking to reporters at the airport here, Raja referred to the chargesheet which mentioned a meeting between Stalin and Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd promoter Shahid Usman Balwa and said, "No such meeting took place between Stalin and Balwa at no point of time.

It is a cooked up story. It is a story created by the ED." Defending his leader, Raja alleged "It is a clear political attempt to tarnish the image of my leader Stalin." To a query on who was making the political attempt, he said, "the party who was in power."

When asked whether it was Congress, he said, "Yes." There were reports in a section of the press that based on the statements of Raja's close associate and business partner Sadhick Batcha recorded by it, the ED in its chargesheet, has mentioned a meeting between Stalin and Balwa. Raja also wondered why the ED was now coming up with such a claim about Stalin's meeting with Balwa. He further contended that the statements were not valid since Batcha is no more.

PTI