CBI probes cash-for-tender deals in two telecom PSUs

The case relates the Rs 50 lakh seized by the director of investigations, Income Tax Department and the CBI from an official of UTL when it was being delivered to an official of the Nirvana Management Group (NMG) representing Motorola in India.

According to documents available with The Indian Express, the premises of Motorola India’s officials have also been searched and its country manager Pramod Saxena and Area Operations Manager Tarvinder Singh questioned by the CBI.

The CBI FIR names Rajiv Gupta of the NMG as the ‘‘middleman/conduit of M/s Motorola India Ltd which uses him for using his influence including offering illegal gratification to influence public servants for getting the work of Motorola executed.’’

The FIR further states that ‘‘recently a payment of Rs 7.18 crore has been cleared by MTNL to Motorola India supposedly by providing illegal gratification to officials of MTNL through Rajiv Gupta.’’ Despite repeated attempts, Saxena, Motorola’s India chief, was not available for comment.

The CBI has also intercepted e-mail messages between Tarvinder Singh and Rajiv Gupta. The e-mail addressed to Gupta states: ‘‘He should ensure by using his personal influence with CMD MTNL that the etchical aspects of the Motorola bid are taken care of by the CDMA Technical Evaluation Committee of MTNL.’’

When contacted, MTNL CMD Narinder Sharma said that he was not aware of the details of the CBI case. ‘‘Nobody has approached anybody in MTNL for questioning as yet. But all documents are availble for the CBI’s or any other agency’s perusal whenever they want, we will fully cooperate with them,’’ Sharma said.

The FIR was registered at the CBI Police Station at 6 pm on September 27. The case against the accused is on the grounds of using ‘‘influence on public servants by corrupt or illegal means.’’

It also cites sections of the IPC, the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 and the Official Secrets Act against the seven accused in the CBI’s list.

Communications and IT Minister Arun Shourie told The Indian Express that the Operation Clean-up had started sometime ago.

‘‘There were no purchase manuals in a department which had such large procurement needs. The rule book has now been finalised and strict vigilance procedures have been set up which automatically will root out corruption from the system. The first sign came when a General Manager was arrested in Muzaffarpur. Now this latest haul is essential to bring to book those who have caused serious losses to the exchequer.’’

Shourie said that the department would fully assist in the investigations, ‘‘but each allegation should be thouroughly checked and confirmed or it would bring work to a halt in these companies,’’ he said.

The documents seized by the CBI relate to the review of MTNL’s Dolphin and WLL Technology by the Consultative Committee of Parliament for the Ministry of Communications dated November 2, 2001 and documents relating to supply of WLL equipment to MTNL Delhi worth Rs 120 crore.