Niira Radia tapes more than just 2G,point to middlemen in every field: Supreme Court

“It was such a serious matter but entire attention was paid only to the 2G case while all other issues were sidelined,” said the bench,after ascertaining that the CBI had received all the tapes from the Income-Tax department in May 2010.

The court said the conversations indicated that “virtually in every government field,private persons — you call them liaisoning officers or middlemen — are present in every nook and corner.”

The court said it was “surprised” CBI did not probe further when the very first conversation (about 2G) talked of a conspiracy.

Senior advocate K K Venugopal,who appears for the CBI in 2G cases,admitted that some of the conversations disclosed issues “more serious than 2G”. Venugopal,who was asked by the court to assist in the matter,said: “These conversations talk about cross-border financial transactions,buying media houses,getting at the helm of affairs of PSUs. Some of them give rise to money laundering. There seems to be interference with routine matters of governance and it is very widespread.”