PC used position to benefit son, alleges Swamy

April 27, 2012

Subramanian_Swamy New Delhi, April 27: Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy on Thursday made fresh allegations against Home Minister P Chidambaram, accusing him of delaying permission for the sale of Aircel to Malaysia-based firm Maxis in 2006 when he was the Finance Minister so that his son Karti financially benefited.

In his letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Swamy demanded Chidambaram's resignation and wanted a direction to the CBI to include the names of the Minister and his son in the FIR on Aircel-Maxis deal along with former Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran.

Swamy alleged that Advantage Strategic Consulting Private Limited, a company controlled by Karti Chidambaram, entered into a financial transaction with Malaysian businessman Sivasankaran’s Aircel Televenture in March 2006.

In May 2006, FIPB (Foreign Investment Promotion Board) approved the Malaysia’s firm Maxis investment of around Rs 4,000 crore in Aircel (where Maxis purchased 74 per cent share in Aircel).

Soon after the deal between Aircel and Maxis was completed, Rs.1,300 crore went out of Aircel in the form of loan without mentioning mandatory specification, he charged.

Swamy alleged that the reason Advantage Strategic Consulting partnered Aircel was to share Rs 4,000 crore invested by Maxis in Aircel.

Sources close to Karti Chidambaram dismissed the allegations as “baseless”.

Suspecting that entire transactions were dubious, he charged Chidambaram with using his position as finance minister and ensuring that FIPB would clear the Aircel-Maxis deal only if his son Karti controlled company got share in Sivasankaran’s Aircel Televenture Limited to get the booty from Maxis.

Swamy further alleged that the monthly report of RBI’s Overseas Investment Division on outward FDI from India showed that Advantage Strategic Consulting Private Limited has a wholly owned subsidiary (WSO) with a similar name in Singapore - Advantage Strategic Consulting Singapore PTE Limited.

The monthly reports from 2006-2012, show that several millions of US dollars were transferred each month from India to the company’s Singapore subsidiary.

According to RBI report, the Singapore subsidiary’s major activities are in Financial, Insurance, Real Estate and Business Services.

“Till 2008 December, Chidambaram was Finance Minister and here question arises how his son indulged in financial and insurance business in India and Singapore,” Swamy said. None of the transactions by Karti’s companies with entities abroad were shown in the financial statements filed with Registrar of Company in Chennai, Swamy said.

He said he had already written to the CBI, Enforcement Directorate and the Registrar of Companies regarding "dubious financial transactions" during the period of the deal.

Swamy alleged that CBI and ED were limiting their probe to the role of Marans, Dayanidhi and Kalanidhi, in the matter. The Congress party refused to react to the allegation against one its most important ministers.

"How am I am responsible for answering to allegations about Karti Chidambaram's business deals? He can himself reply to Swamy's allegations," party spokesperson Renuka Choudhary told reporters.

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DMK MLA J Anbazhagan succumbs to COVID-19 in Tamil Nadu

News Network

June 10,2020

Chennai, Jun 10: DMK MLA J Anbazhagan who had tested positive for coronavirus and was on ventilator support from June 3 passed away at a hospital in Chennai on Wednesday.

Coincidently, today is the 62nd birthday of the MLA.

"Anbazhagan J, who has been fighting for his life with severe COVID 19 pneumonia rapidly deteriorated early this morning. In spite of full medical support including mechanical ventilation at our COVID facility, he succumbed to his illness. He was declared dead at 08:05 hours on the 10th of June 2020," the hospital said in a statement.

In 2001, Anbazhagan was elected from T Nagar Assembly constituency. He served for five years.

Later in 2011, he was elected to Tamil Nadu Assembly from Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni seat. The DMK leader was re-elected from the same constituency in 2016.

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I and B Minister Prakash Javadekar condemns alleged attack on Arnab Goswami

News Network

April 23,2020

New Delhi, Apr 23: Union Information and Broadcasting Minister, Prakash Javadekar, on Thursday condemned the attack on Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami saying that this is "against democracy".

"We condemn the attempt to attack renowned journalist Arnab Goswami. Essentially, we condemn every attack on any journalist. Because this is against democracy," the Union Minister said.

"It is really ironical that those who preach tolerance have become so intolerant. Therefore, we condemn this attempt. We appeal to the collective wisdom that this is undemocratic. As per present law, definitely, police takes action, if there is a complaint," said Javadekar.

Two persons were arrested on Thursday morning for allegedly attacking Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami and his wife Samyabrata Ray in Mumbai.

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Javedkar is blind not to accept Arnab's venomous statement in deciding the nation. He is another shameless

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India's 2020 gold demand may hit 26-year low as prices rally: WGC

Agencies

July 30,2020

New Delhi, Jul 30: India's gold demand in 2020 is expected to fall to the lowest level in 26 years with domestic bullion prices hitting a record high and as falling disposable incomes could curtail retail purchases, the World Gold Council (WGC) said on Thursday.

Lower demand by the world's second-biggest bullion consumer could limit a rally in global prices, which hit a record high earlier this month, although it could also reduce India's trade deficit and support the ailing rupee.

"Fast rising gold prices could act as headwinds," said Somasundaram PR, the managing director of WGC's Indian operations.

Local gold futures have jumped 35% so far this year after rising a quarter in 2019.

India's gold consumption in the first half of 2020 plunged 56% on-year to 165.6 tonnes. Meanwhile, the coronavirus-triggered lockdown also slashed demand by 70% in the June quarter to 63.7 tonnes, the lowest in more than a decade, the WGC said in a report published on Thursday.

Millions of Indians have lost their jobs or taken a pay cut after the country imposed a lockdown on its 1.3 billion people to curb the spread of the virus that has infected more than 1.5 million Indians.

Consumption is generally high during the June quarter due to weddings and key festivals such as Akshaya Tritiya, but lockdown restrictions kept shoppers indoors this year.

The weak demand in the first half could drag down India's gold consumption in 2020 to the lowest since 1994, when demand stood at 415 tonnes, Somasundaram said, adding that it is still difficult to provide an estimate for full-year demand as the coronavirus crisis is still unfolding.

"Indian demand has previously jumped as much as 300 tonnes in a quarter. Latent demand could come out in the second half," Somasundaram said.

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