While it is commendable that such corporate giants have been brought under the ambit of CBI probing, since their criminality and fraudulence might have registered in the conversations recorded in the tapes, it remains to be seen if these so-called investigations bear any fruits and see the business tycoons face the consequences of tampering with the law. The telecom scam, which amounted to almost Rs 1.7 lakh crores in losses to the government exchequer, thanks to tweaking of laws to dole out the spectrum to companies at prices much lower than the market rates, is a shining example of the nefarious collusion between the corporate sector, bureaucracy and politicians, which has been eating away the governmental apparatus from within. The CBI will be looking into fudged records and customer data that were submitted by the companies and approved by the concerned officials, particularly by telecom regulatory authority of India (TRAI) ex-chief Pradip Baijal.
Evidently, Radia and her company Vaishnavi, played a major role in reorienting the biddings and auctions to favour the biggest companies, thanks to their financial muscle flexing. The CBI enquiries are therefore extremely important to establish the illicit coordination between the business lobbyist, media persons, politicians such as A Raja, Kanimozhi as well as the government officials in the telecom department, without whose corroboration the deals couldn’t have been hatched in the first place. The grave criminal misconduct on the part of public officials is equally to blame, as much as the corporate aggression of the businessmen, who consider political parties and government departments as merely conduits of their influence into the larger public sphere. More often than not, the CBI enquiries become modus operandi for the ruling regime to settle scores and extract compensation, both in cash and kind, from both the political opponents and corporate giants seeking favours. Indeed, that the CBI has lodged the PEs is no guarantee that the probe will be allowed to continue even if the Bureau lays its hands on crucial evidence.
Evidently, Radia and her company Vaishnavi, played a major role in reorienting the biddings and auctions to favour the biggest companies, thanks to their financial muscle flexing. The CBI enquiries are therefore extremely important to establish the illicit coordination between the business lobbyist, media persons, politicians such as A Raja, Kanimozhi as well as the government officials in the telecom department, without whose corroboration the deals couldn’t have been hatched in the first place. The grave criminal misconduct on the part of public officials is equally to blame, as much as the corporate aggression of the businessmen, who consider political parties and government departments as merely conduits of their influence into the larger public sphere. More often than not, the CBI enquiries become modus operandi for the ruling regime to settle scores and extract compensation, both in cash and kind, from both the political opponents and corporate giants seeking favours. Indeed, that the CBI has lodged the PEs is no guarantee that the probe will be allowed to continue even if the Bureau lays its hands on crucial evidence.